Why Can't You Love Me?

Lily awoke with a start.

She looked around the dim room, almost forgetting where she was at. She was laying, nude, on top of a naked Tony on his living room couch. Lily mentally chastised herself for falling asleep. It had to be late. She knew she had to get to home as soon as possible.

She climbed off of Tony as stealthy as she could to not wake him. He didn’t even move nor make a sound. She went around the living room picking up her clothes and putting it on as she went. She found her cell phone five feet away from the couch. She hesitated to check it. She didn’t want to know the time, nor how many missed calls or texts.

She gulped as she clicked the on/off button on the side of her smartphone.

1:55 am. 7 Missed Calls. 29 SMS.

“Shiiiiiiiit.” She hissed as she checked the calls and the texts.

Most of them were from Mike, with about two or three calls and texts from Vic and her parents.

She searched the living room for her shoes. When she did, she put them on and then went back to the couch to wake up Tony to take her home.

She shook him gently. Nothing.

“Tony, wake up.” She said softly as she shook him.

He groaned in his sleep and opened an eye.

“Yeah?” he whispered, closing his eye once again.

“Tony, wake up. You have to take me home right now.” Lily said. She didn’t want to sound impatient, but by the sound of her voice, she sounded like she was.

“I’ll take you home in the morning.” Tony mumbled. He turned onto his side so that he flashed his ass to her. Lily sighed in frustration and pinched his naked butt. Tony arched back in pain and sat up quickly.

“Now, Tony. Get dressed and take me home.” Lily demanded.

Tony glared at her through his sleepy eyes.

“What time is it?” he asked.

“It’s one in the morning and I was supposed to be home a long time ago.” Lily replied as she went around the living room picking up Tony’s clothes. She threw the pile at him. Tony pushed everything aside except his boxer briefs.

“No way. It’s late. I already said in the morning.” He pulled on his underwear and laid back on the couch.

Lily was getting pissed at this point.

“Look, Tony, I need to get home now. I have a daughter and I need to get home to her. If you don’t take me home now, I’ll call Mike.”

“Then call him.” He retorted.

Lily slapped him then.

Tony shot up and stood up.

They faced each other. Though Lily was way shorter than Tony, she was not intimidated by him. He was acting so rude now. Before he was all quiet, shy, and acted like a gentleman… is this how he was to other girls?

“What the fuck was that for, Lily?” he growled.

“Because, I’m telling you that you need to take me home and you are not listening to me! I am not one of your one night stands, Tony!” she said back, almost yelling.

“Or wait? Is that all I was? Did you fake all this shit today just to get in my pants? Is that it, Tony?”

Tony couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could she possibly think that when she was pretty much the only girl he was ever this nice to… even compared to Stephanie, who he had dated for years.

“What the fuck! No! I really do like you, Lily! It’s just that it’s late and it’d be safer to go in the morning.” He said, softly, to not make her angry.

“But I need to go home now.” She whispered. “Mel needs me. And Mike is gonna kill me. Or you. This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were not supposed to have slept together. This is all that you wanted.”

“I never said that!” Tony yelled.

“Just take me HOME!” she yelled back at him.

Tony sighed and then put on the remainder of his clothes.

------

It had been a quiet ride to Lily’s house and all Tony wanted to do was jump out of his car. She was giving him the cold shoulder. If Lily could hurt him in any way, it was by not talking to him. Their first date and he had fucked it up.

Lily didn’t say anything as stepped out the car. She only slammed the door and walked swiftly to the front door. Tony was hot on her tail, wanting to tell her something but he really didn’t know what to say. Or well, he really didn’t want to upset her more than he already had.

The front door opened before Lily could reach into her purse and pull out her house keys.

There, brooding in the dim light, was Mike. He had a scowl on his face. He was pissed. And when he looked from Lily’s hanging head to a sad-looking Tony, his anger boiled beyond its maximum point.

He stepped aside to let his sister in. Lily slowly walked in, making sure to not accidently bump into him. When Tony tried to follow, Mike blocked his path.

“Dude, I’m sorry. We didn’t—we just—c’mon, don’t be like this—she’s already up—MIKE!”

Tony had pushed his bandmate out the doorway after receiving several blocks. He only wanted to explain himself. He didn’t want to get violent.

Mike took a deep breath and closed the door. Lily wanted to head straight to Melody’s room, but Mike stopped her when she tried to slip away.

“She’s already asleep, there’s no need for you to bother her.” Mike said in a cold voice. Lily threw him an icy glare and wished that Vic would appear because Vic was more understandable. Mike was worse than their dad.

“So are you gonna explain?” Mike asked after a few awkward, silent seconds.

“Nothing happened.” Lily said.

“Lie.” Mike retorted.

Lily didn’t want to look at Tony, but she did so that he could back her up. She didn’t want Mike to know what had really happened. It would only make the situation worse.

“We were watching movies. We lost track of time.” Tony said, getting Lily’s hint. He, too, didn’t want to make matters worse. Mike had always been way too overprotective of his sister, even if she did date Jaime. But he got the hint that Mike considered Jaime and Tony on completely different levels when it came to girls. Especially when that girl was Lily.

“False.” Mike said again.

Lily stomped in frustration. She only wanted to kiss Melody good night and head to bed. She didn’t want to be standing here trying to convince her stupid brother that she didn’t do anything wrong. She was old enough to make her own decisions and didn’t need reprimanding!

“Dammit, Mike, we went out for coffee, ate dinner, and watched fuckin’ movies. We didn’t do anything out of the norm! We only went on a da—“

SMACK!

Lily raised her hand to the sudden burning sensation on her cheek.

Tony was standing still in shock.

Mike was staring at his hand in utter surprise.

He hadn’t meant to do it. He just didn’t want any more lies…

“WHAT THE FUCK, MICHAEL!” Lily yelled, tears forming in her eyes. Her cheek really didn’t hurt. It had been a slap, but it wasn’t a hard slap. It stung a bit. The fact that he slapped her was more shocking than the pain.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! Lily, I’m so fucking sorry.” Mike said quickly.

“Dude… you’re fucked.” Tony said and then turned to Lily. He stepped forward, wanting to take her in his arms. “Lily, you okay?”

Lily looked from Mike to Tony and then began backing away from the both of them.

“Fuck off.” She said. Tony took another step closer but she held her hand up. “Both of you.”

And with that, she walked away and went to kiss her daughter good night.