Hello, Sunshine

Lily finally pulled away from the hug and went to sit on her bed. Ryan slowly followed, sitting on the edge.
"So...how have you been?" she started awkwardly. Neither of them knew where to start, and both had so much to say.
"Okay, I guess. I've been pretty tired. Life on the road isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's really hectic and it just takes everything out of you sometimes. I'm glad to be back home for a while." he said.
Lily smiled. "I want to go on the road sometime. I doubt I ever will though. Brendon would probably flip if I told him I wanted to go with you guys. He'd tell me it's too dangerous or something, or that I need to focus on other things and not just fooling around." she rolled her eyes. She knew how her brother was. Stubborn. But then again, so was she.
"It isn't the most luxurious, but we have a good time, most of the time at least. Sharing a bus with 3 other guys isn't exactly glamorous all of the time. He may let you go sometime." Ryan tried to give her hope. He didn't mind the idea at all. He thinks about her a lot while they are on the road. He even has a picture of her in his bunk. From when they were still in school. He would love it if she came with them. And he thought everyone would enjoy the company. Lily is fun, she'd be great to have along for the ride.
Ryan got lost in his thoughts and was looking out the window. Lily stared at him. She thought of all the memories they had together. How he had always been there for her, even if he was on tour. He may not have been able to come over and comfort her, but he would stay on the phone with her for hours, making sure she would be okay with what she was dealing with.
"Ryan, do you remember Jack?" she asked suddenly. He snapped back to reality and scowled. "Yeah." he said angrily. "I hated him."
Jack was Lily's ex-boyfriend. She dated him her sophomore year. He was a senior and he screwed her over. They dated for about five months. She had been pretty happy with him. There were some things she didn't like about him, but she found him to be an okay guy.
He took her to her first homecoming. She didn't go to her freshman homecoming because she got sick. Long story short, Jack told her he was going to get drinks but he didn't come back for quite some time, so Lily went to look for him. She found him under the bleachers with some slutty junior cheerleader. She was completely heartbroken and she didn't go back to the dance. Instead, she just chose to walk home even though it had been pretty cold that night.
When she got home, Ryan was over because Brendon asked him to spend the night. Brendon was already asleep when she got home.
"I didn't even hear you come in." Ryan said. "But when you went up to your room, I followed you. I had a feeling something happened. You didn't want me to come in, but I heard you crying. I couldn't just leave you up there."
She laughed. "Yeah. It was a stupid reason to be crying. He wasn't worth my time." Ryan agreed. "You fell asleep in my arms that night." He smiled, remembering how it felt to hold her.
Lily smiled too. She had missed Ryan a lot. She was really happy to be moving in with her brother. She had missed all of the guys and she was glad that she was going to be spending time with them all again.
Suddenly, Lily felt that she had to do something. She moved closer to Ryan and he just looked at her. She placed her hand on top of his and leaned in, until her lips touched his.
Ryan couldn't think. He didn't know what to do. It felt so good to be kissing her, but he knew he shouldn't. Brendon would kill him. Yet, these thoughts didn't make him pull away. Instead, he kissed her back. They both adjusted so they were even closer to each other. The kiss was soft and sweet, with a longing from both sides.
Lily pulled away to catch her breath, and get her thoughts organized. Both of them were speechless.
Ryan stared at her. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes and stroked her cheek with his thumb. "You are so beautiful." he said, pulling her closer so that he could wrap his arms around her. She blushed. He made her feel so special. And she felt so safe in his arms.
The moment was cut short when there was a loud banging on Lily's door. She cussed under her breath. They both knew it was Brendon. What?" Lily yelled. She grabbed Ryan's hand as Brendon walked in. When he saw the two, he sighed loudly.
"Why are you guys doing this? I told you not to." He told them, mostly aiming it towards Ryan.
"Brendon stop being unfair. You know it's going to happen sooner or later. Just accept it already!" she said, rather loudly.
"She has a point Bren." Ryan agreed. Brendon rolled his eyes.
"Fine. Whatever. Do what you want. Just be careful. You don't want to ruin your friendship, do you?" he asked, walking back downstairs.
Ryan kissed Lily's head. "I promise, I'm not going to hurt you."
She closed her eyes and laid down. He laid down next to her, and they positioned so that her head was resting on his chest. The two just laid there in silence. At some time or another, Lily fell asleep while Ryan was stoking her hair.
Lily awoke the next day, the sun filling her eyes. She discovered that she was alone in the bed. She sighed as she walked to the bathroom with a pair of fresh clothes. After her shower, she walked downstairs.
As soon as she hit the bottom of the stairwell, the smell of french toast enveloped her. She entered the kitchen to find Brendon still cooking. He was a pretty decent cook. And she was a sucker for his french toast. She walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him. He laughed and told her to sit down.
A few minutes afterward, he set a plate in front of her, along with a glass of juice. He joined her a few seconds later and they began to eat. It was silent, neither of them knowing what to say. It was Brendon that finally broke the silence.
"Lily, I can't take this anymore. I can't stand it when you don't talk to me." he said. "I know I can't stop anything from happening, but I just want to protect you."
"I know Bren. And I know you will always be there for me. But you just gotta let me make my own mistakes. I'm growing up. And as hard as it is, you have to accept it at some point."
He smiled sadly. "I know. It's hard though. I never thought that I'd be in that situation where my best friend falls in love with my sister." he laughed.
She smiled and hugged him. "I love you Bren."
"I love you too Lil." he said, smiling back. He got up and started clearing the table off. She helped him, but when she offered to do the dishes, he wouldn't let her.
Lily then had nothing to do. She had no clue where Ryan was. She started wandering upstairs. She didn't even know which room was his. She checked in the first one, closest to hers and it was Brendon's. The one after though, turned out to be his. She knocked on the door, but when he didn't answer, she peeked in.
Ryan's room wasn't too messy, there were some random clothes on the floor, but it wasn't too bad. She saw his guitar in the corner and smiled. He loved that guitar. From the moment he got it, he fell in love with it. She smiled as she remembered the countless time she would listen to him practice.
She wandered over to his desk to find tons of loose papers lying everywhere. There were lyrics scribbled down. She read through some of them and smiled. He was so great with words. She had always found his writing amazing. The one thing she didn't understand, though, was that Ryan hated to sing. And it wasn't because he was bad a singing; he had an amazing voice. He just always said that he hated how his voice sounded. Lily got him to sing for her a couple of times. She loved it when he did that. She thought he was a great singer, but he would never listen to her.
She shuffled through the papers, reading through the strings of words. She found most of it amazing. There were quite a few songs that he left unfinished, or ones that had things scribbled out. But still, she read through it all.
She jumped when she felt arms wrap around her. Ryan laughed and asked what she was doing.
Lily ignored the question. "Ryan, those songs are great." she said strongly. He laughed and turned around. He went to sit on his bed. "Most of those are just things I wrote to screw around. Kind of like brainstorming. It isn't serious." he said smiling.
"But it's all great!" she exclaimed.
He smiled and pulled her down on top of him. She fell onto his chest, letting out a squeal. He stared into her eyes, even though her bangs were covering them some. Lily smiled. She took in his scent. She loved the way he smelled. She was lost in his deep brown eyes. He pressed his lips softly against hers, making the two of them smile.
Lily tangled her fingers in Ryan's hair, as his hands wandered down to rest on her hips. They deepened the kiss and adjusted to a more comfortable position.They kept the kiss innocent, soft and sweet, just like their first one.
Ryan wanted to make sure he didn't mess anything up. He wanted to show Lily that he wasn't just 'any other guy.' And he knew that she wasn't like any other girl he had ever met. He was falling for her. Even though he may not have been ready to admit it, he was, as was she.
They shared something special. It wasn't just an ordinary thing that was going on between them. They had something. They always have. And they both couldn't be happier to rekindle the love that they never had the chance to actually get started.