Chasing the Sun

Finn and his mother left quickly after that, but not before he threw one last filthy look in Lilly’s direction, which was accompanied with a snide smirk that made her think twice about letting Gerard knock his lights out for her whole family to see. Lilly didn’t care if his parents were friends of the family; she was secretly fuming at the nerve he had to come to her grandfather’s party and throw insults in her direction. Gerard seemed to calm down when Finn left, though, thanks to the alcohol. Lilly supposed she had to give him credit for holding back a little in front of her family. Even though it was getting late, and nobody was paying attention to them anymore, he was still taking it easy with the beer, which was more than could be said for her sister and cousins. It was hitting nine o’clock when her cousins Hector and Dylan brought up the idea of going out.

“I’m afraid now. I’m driving back to Dublin tonight, that’s why I only had the one drink.” Lilly excused herself, not at all in the mood to pub crawl with her cousins when she was pretty sober. She had allowed herself one beer when she came in, knowing it would be out of her system by the time they were due to leave.

“Oh, c’mon, Lil.When’s the last time we all went out?” Hector nudged her, giving her his best charming smile.

“No can do. Anyway, we’d have nowhere to stay. There’s no way ma would let Gerard stay over,” Lilly reasoned, ignoring her sister’s exasperated expression.

“Lil, ma will be fine with it, if it means she’ll have you here in the morning. There’s no harm in asking, anyway. Loosen up!” Her sister bit out, annoyed.

Lilly looked to Gerard, trying to gage his thoughts on what they should do. He shrugged his shoulders, indifferent to whether they stayed the night or went back home. Lilly was certain her mother wouldn’t allow it, though. Even though she was twenty two, there was no way her mother would be happy with the idea of Gerard staying over in the house, let alone even share her bed.

“Let’s see what mam says,” she muttered, earning a pleased grin from Fiona. She found her mother talking to her aunts, who were all a little more than tipsy,thanks to the Cosmopolitans they’d concocted.

“Mam, I was wondering…would it be okay if I stayed over tonight?”

“Of course you can! You know your room is always here!” Her mother sounded delighted, obviously not realising the full implication of Lilly’s request.

“Well, Gerard would kinda need to stay over too,” Lilly pointed out uneasily.

Just as she predicted, her mother’s happiness vanished as quickly as it came. Her smile disappeared, replaced with a conflicted expression.

“Lilly, I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that” her mother sounded a little pained.

“No, it’s alright. It’s just that Hector asked if we’d head out, it’s not a big deal.”

Her mother sighed.

“It’s not often I get you home, though…and you are an adult,” her mother let out a sigh, “Fine, he can stay, but I’m trusting you two to…behave yourselves. This is my house, respect that, okay?” Her mother ended sternly, her eyes narrowing in a silent threat.

“Understood,” Lilly blushed, more than eager to escape her mother’s glare. She rushed back to the table, and promptly grabbed the full beer in Gerard’s hand, taking a large swig. Gerard raised a questioning eyebrow, while Fiona giggled.

“What? I need to catch up if we’re gonna head out,” Lilly grinned.

“So you’re staying out with us, little cousin? Look at you, all grown up!” Hector teased, earning a punch in the arm from Lilly, which only made him laugh harder, while he rubbed his arm mockingly.

“Still a weakling, I see.”

He regretted his words when Lilly kicked him in the shins, hard enough to bring tears to his eyes, and make him yelp.

“What was that?” Lilly mocked.

“Lilly Madden, I see you do that again, and I swear to God, you’ll regret it. Act your age!” Lilly’s mother suddenly roared, shaming Lilly into sitting down with a red face, while everyone laughed at her. Hector stuck his tongue out at her, delighted at her public humiliation.

“Serves you right!”

“Aaaww, leave her alone. She’s so cute when she’s angry and violent,” Gerard cooed, kissing her cheek and wrapping a comforting arm around her.

“You’re all so mean,” she whined, burying her head in Gerard’s neck.

“And you’re a violent midget. Deal with it,” Dylan laughed.

“Okay, that’s enough, children. Get that beer into you, and then we can head on it to town. It’s gonna be legendary,” Fiona interjected, clinking her bottle with Lilly’s, with barely contained excitement.

An hour later, they were comfortably settled in the corner of a small local pub, which was, not surprisingly, busy, considering it was a Saturday night. Fiona had ordered a shot for Lilly, desperate for Lilly to catch up with the rest of them. Lilly wasn’t in the mood to argue, so she downed it with a grimace at the liquorice aftertaste.

“Ugh. Next time, make it a cola shot or something.” Lilly complained.

“Shut it, you. Just be thankful I’m a nice older sister, who buys her baby sister alcohol.”

“You only bought it, ‘cause you don’t wanna be the only one hungover tomorrow. I know how your mind works,” Lilly pointed out. Fiona shrugged, her lack of denial speaking volumes. They sat at the table for a while before Fiona declared that she was going outside for a smoke.

“I’ll join you,” Gerard stood up, following Fiona out to the smoking area out the back of the pub.

“So, you got yourself a new lover boy?” Dylan got straight to the questioning the minute that Gerard was out of sight.

“I did indeed. What of it?” Lilly answered vaguely, not entirely comfortable with discussing her relationship with either of her cousins, who would only tease her mercilessly, no matter what she said.

“Aaww, don’t be so coy about it. Tell us a bit more about him. Is it love?” Hector nudged her lightly.

“I’m not saying anything. Anything I say, you’ll just use against me, and torture me to the end of my days with it.”

“Aw, c’mon, we’re all grown up’s here. He seems like a nice guy.A bit geeky, but nice all the same.”

“He is nice. Most of the time.”

“Is he good in bed?” Hector sprang the question out of nowhere, causing Lilly to choke on her beer in shock. She spluttered for a good solid minute, helped by Dylan, who patted her back.

“Jesus Christ, you’re so fucking nosey,” Lilly managed to croaked, her voice still a little breathless.

“I’m curious, is all,” Hector muttered.

“Keep your curiosity to yourself. Fucking pervert,” Lilly hissed.

“Whatever. Anyway, did you see Finn’s face when he saw you sitting beside Gerard? Poor guy.He looked like he was going to punch someone.” Dylan sounded sympathetic and amused at the same time.

“He’s a fucking asshole. He called me a whore for having a new boyfriend.” Lilly hissed.

“Fucking dick. You should have told him Gerard’s dick is bigger than his.”

“Oh, believe me, it is.”

“Oh, I’m the pervert when I ask about your sex life, but it’s okay for you to talk about your boyfriend’s dick!” Hector dipped his fingers in his pint and flicked his fingers in Lilly’s direction, hitting her with a few drops of the drink.

“Asshole,” Lilly whined, wiping her dress.

The conversation continued in the same fashion for a while, until Lilly realised Fiona and Gerard had yet to return. She excused herself to go find them, curious as to why they were taking so long. She spotted them almost immediately when she stepped outside, her stomach dropping nauseously. They were sitting at a table, sitting so close they were thigh to thigh and shoulder to shoulder. They were both smiling, with Fiona’s head tilted slightly in a way that could only be described as flirtatious. Anyone who didn’t know them would have thought they were a couple; they looked the picture of intimacy with their closeness and flirtatious body language. Lilly watched on in horror, afraid of moving, in case they saw her. She felt oddly guilty, as well as angry, for looking on. She walked back inside without being seen, heading straight for the bathroom, before she lost her composure for the whole pub to see.

Notes

*Gasps* is Gerard hitting on Lilly's sister? *Cue dramatic music*

Hope you enjoyed my dears, and remember: feedback is awesome!

Lyra