Lily Baby.

Open POV

Lily’s mother couldn’t work out why Lily was so quiet at dinner. She supposed it was because Frank was there, but Frank had been rather quiet as well. She’d even cooked Frank’s favourite because she knew he’d stay. He nearly always stayed for dinner now.

Every time Frank looked at Lily, she always looked away quickly and blushed, causing him to giggle quietly. Lily’s heart leaped as she felt Frankie’s hand on hers during dinner. The unexplained tummy ache returned every time and she felt so grown up. She finally felt like she understood something. She began to wish that she could understand more things…

As soon as Frank left that evening, Lily began her extensive research into the enigma that was love. She took a large collection of romantic movies into her room and stared avidly at the screen until her head began to hurt from all the information displayed. She stared drowsily at the television, the picture going in and out of focus as she succumbed to her tiredness and turned off the television. She tried with all her might to change her clothing on her own. Pulling the cardigan slowly off her thin frame and throwing it onto the floor recklessly. Her mother had taught her how to put all of her things neatly away but tonight she could only think of one thing…

She frowned down at her skinny arms and shook her head. She didn’t like how her arms looked. But she wasn’t sure how they were supposed to look anyway. There were rarely girls around her home... Gerard and Mikey never really brought girls home, and Lily didn't like the girls at school. They were all mean to her and she thought they resembled her old Barbie dolls. She never liked those Barbie dolls.

She started on the buttons of her dress that went straight down the front. Her fingers fumbled and she screwed her face up in frustration. It was that damn loop! The plastic doodad just wouldn’t go through the hole.

“Ugh,” she sighed, “Go through the loop!”

She felt the tears come to her eyes when she realised she wouldn’t accomplish her goal. She sniffed, kicking off her shoes and calling for help.

Mikey was the only one who heard.

“Stop yelling!” he cried, “I’m trying to do an essay and you’re not… why are you crying?”

She shuffled her feet as she stood in her bedroom doorframe.

“I can’t do it…” she whispered. It was a puzzle she couldn’t do.

“What?” he asked, stepping out of his room and motioning for her to go inside her room.

“Buttons…”

“Oh,” he simply said, “Would you like help?”

“N-no…I want to do it myself…”

“But that might take a while…” he moaned.

“Mikey… I want to do it…”

He looked at her and for the first time in a while he didn’t see his retarded sister whom he seemed to loath. He saw a little girl, who just really wanted to be normal, even though she never showed it. She wanted to do her damn buttons and Mikey would try his best to make it happen.

“Okay, right, first things first, put one finger there,” he grabbed her hand and placed it on a button, “and another… there.”

“Now, push the button- yes the shiny bit- through that holey bit there… okay?” she nodded and tried with all her might.

“You almost had it,” he said kindly, “but next time, do it slower, don’t think about it okay?”

She nodded trying again, yet failing.

“This might take a while…”

She grimaced.

*Time Lapse*

The button, slowly but surely, made it through the hole in the fabric and Mikey cheered with glee.

“You did it!” he smiled, making her grin proudly.

“I did it!” she cried, jumping at him and hugging him. He tensed at first but slowly relaxed feeling oddly relaxed around his sister- and also due to the fact that the scent of strawberry shampoo could calm anyone.

He held her at arms length and looked at her, “Lily… I’m sorry.”

She nodded.

“You might not understand this, hell, you might not understand anything-”

“I do!” she cried indignantly, “I understand alot now! I understood the kissing!”

“You… what?” he looked at her with confusion, “What kissing?”

“Frankie… he…”

“Frank kissed you?”

She hesitated but nodded.

“Right… well, I’ll be having words with him tomorrow…”

“Bad words?” she asked, worriedly as Mikey got up to leave.

“Nah… more of a ‘You mess with my sister, I’ll chop of your penis’ kind of words,” he grinned.

She giggled softly, although she only just got the gist of it. Thanks to the films she had been watching, she knew what most of the words in the sentence meant. Even 'penis' which she had to rewind on the films several times before she made a good guess as to what it was...

“Good night Mikey…” she yawned flopping down onto bed, still wearing her dress. Undressing was abandoned when she realised how tired she really was.

“Good night little sister… I’m sorry for not being a better brother,” he said sadly, “I’ll try harder… okay?”

She nodded sighing deeply; she was nearly fast asleep.

Mikey gave his sister one last glance before switching off her bedroom light.

He suddenly felt a wave of guilt wash over him as he began to wish that he hadn’t been such an asshole to his own flesh and blood…