Your Secret's Safe With Me

Two weeks after Lynn and Luke moved into their apartment and Lily moved into the guest bedroom, Tim was woken up by the sound of cursing coming from a sugar-sweet voice.

“Lily?” he called, wiping the sleep away from his eyes as he left his room. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like, Timmy? I’m cleaning,” she replied, yanking on the tangled cords of the vacuum.

“Are you serious? You’re cleaning at eight in the morning?”

“Well,” she sighed, facing him with a hand on her hip. Her eyes were bloodshot and had dark rings under them. He could tell she wasn’t okay, but she played it off well enough. “I’ve just realized how dirty this house is. Really, when’s the last time you swept the floors?”

He groaned, ignoring her question. “You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

“Of course I did.”

“Liliane Langsley, if you’re going to live in this house you are not going to lie to me,” Tim argued sternly. It wasn’t a big deal to pretend she’d gotten sleep, but Tim knew that once the lying started, it wouldn’t stop. He had to set up ground rules now while he had the chance. “It doesn’t do any fucking good to lie. Not to me.”

“Fine, I was up all night. So what?” she snapped, dragging the vacuum into the hallway.

He followed her, stopping her from turning the machine on. “Lily, promise you won’t lie to me? About anything? You know you can count on me.”

“I know, Timmy. Sorry. I promise I won’t lie to you,” Lily sighed, giving in. She was too mentally exhausted to fight with him.

“That’s my girl,” Tim laughed, hugging her tightly before letting her go. “So what’s up with all the cleaning? You been doing this all night?”

“Kinda. I think I started around four in the morning? I can’t remember,” she said, glancing around the house to survey her work. “Anyways, I was serious when I said it was filthy in here. So I cleaned it up a bit. You’re welcome.”

“This whole living-with-a-girl thing is starting to pay off,” he laughed, walking into the tiny kitchen to pour himself some coffee. He wondered how many cups Lily had had already, if she was this energetic at eight in the morning.

“Don’t get used to it, Kirch!”

He chuckled again, opening the fridge with surprise; she cleaned that out too. He pulled out a carton of eggs and started the stove, working on making scrambled eggs with the sound of the running vacuum in the background.

Tim had been a little weary about how living with Lily was going to work out; they were two very different people. It was weird for him, at first. He’d never lived with a girl before, not counting his mom. And it didn’t help when he found girly shampoo in the shower, girly clothes mixed with his in the washing machine, and girly shows playing on the tv.
But after the first week he’d gotten used to it all, and he didn’t mind living with her one bit. She needed a place to stay, and he’d do anything for her. She was family.

And now the two of them seemed to live in harmony; as cliche as that sounds, it worked out perfectly well for the both of them. It just felt normal to live together. Tim wasn’t so lonely anymore and Lily wasn’t so scared anymore.

“Oooh, what’d you make?” Lily asked excitedly, skipping into the kitchen. She automatically went straight for the coffee pot, pouring a cup and drinking it black. Tim cringed, watching her.

“Scrambled eggs.” He grabbed a plate, dumped the food on top of it, and passed it to her. “No yolk.”

“Thank you, Timmy,” she said, standing on her tiptoes and giving him a brotherly kiss on the cheek. Her hands went to the cabinet above her head, reaching for the salt and pepper before spicing her breakfast. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“Well, a couple of my friends called last night -Austin and Trey, I think you’ve met them before?” he asked. “Anyways, they called and said they were going camping for a few days up at Lake Havasu and wanted us to come. Sound good?”

“Sure, why not,” she shrugged, taking a bite of her food. “Can we bring Lynn? I know Luke won’t want to come, he hates camping, but Lynn loves it.”

“Yeah, of course,” he answered, sitting down next to her at the table. “Give her a call. I was thinkin’ we should leave around noon.” Tim glanced over at her, watching her as she chugged her cup of coffee. “Uh, Lily?”

“Yeah?” she asked, letting out a deep breathe after holding it in.

“How many cups of coffee have you had today?”

A grin broke out on her face. “I can’t really remember. Last night I kept making myself cowboy coffee, so it’s kind of a blur.”

“What the hell’s cowboy coffee?”

“It’s normal coffee plus liquor. Any kind you want. Lynn and I made it up in high school.”

He gave her a peculiar look before laughing. “Only you would do that kinda thing.”

“You should try it sometime, it’s great!” she laughed, throwing away her plate. “I’m gonna go call Lynn.”

“Alright. No more coffee!”

All he got in return was a dark laugh.

***

“So this is it?” Lily asked from the front seat of Tim’s car, looking around at the so-called campsite at the lake. “It’s a shit hole!”

“Lily!” her sister scolded. “You’re such an ast.”

“Cer i grafu!”

“Quit arguing, I can’t understand you two!” Tim yelled, hopping out of the car to escape the yelling. “This is America, we speak English,” he muttered as they all began pulling their bags out of the trunk.

“We also get to sleep in actual beds,” Lily retorted, earning a smack on the arm from her sister. “Maybe I should go home and check on Luke..”

“No!” Lynn and Tim said at the same time. “He’s fine, Lily. He knows how to take care of himself,” Lynn added.

“Yeah, he’s learned from the best, too. He has a pair of tough-ass sisters,” Tim said, winking at Lily to decrease her worry.

“I know, I know.. it’s just the first time we’ve left him alone in a long time,” Lily sighed, trying to relax. She surveyed the campsite, where Tim’s friends had already set up their tents and started a campfire. More people showed up than what she thought would. She’d been counting on a smallish get-together.

“Luke’s fine. Now come on, let’s get these tents set up,” Tim said, dragging the bags on the ground as they approached the group of people.

“Tim! How’s it goin’, man?” Austin grinned, walking over and giving him one of those dude-hugs. “I see you brought the twins with ya. Nice to see you, ladies,” he winked, a beer already in his hands.

“Can you tell us apart, yet?” Lynn asked sweetly, smirking.

“Of course I can,” he laughed. “You’re Lynn,” he pointed to her. “And you’re Lily.”

“Nice job, Gibbs, you conquered the unconquerable,” Trey laughed, walking up and shaking hands with Tim before greeting the girls. “I could tell them apart two weeks ago.”

The group continued laughing and joking around, while Lily dropped her bag and slipped away, heading towards one of the large coolers for a drink. If she was gonna camp, she was gonna need to be halfway drunk.

“Hey there, Lily!” the brown-haired boy smiled as he stood next to a cooler, scratching at his goatee.

“Hey, Kennedy. How’ve you been?”

“Good, good. Haven’t seen you in a while, Tim’s been hoarding you,” Kenny laughed. “Are you thirsty? I got stuck playing host for the night.”

“Well, I’d love a drink. Whatcha got?”

“Mainly beer and a couple bottles of Jack. We’re saving the hard stuff for later tonight,” he winked, knowing how she’d much rather have a shot of tequila than a can of stale beer.

“I’ll take the Jack,” she grinned, watching as the boy dipped his hand into the freezing cooler and pulled out her bottle before handing it to her. “Thanks. So what’s everyone up to, over here? It looks to me like one big competition to see who can get drunk first.”

“Does that really surprise you, though? I mean, this thing was arranged by Austin and Trey, who are borderline alcoholics,” he laughed.

“Very true. I hope ya’ll know that I’m gonna need to be piss drunk too, in order to sleep in a tent for two nights.”

“Let’s just hope no one gets stung by a scorpion.”

“Oh my god, oh my fucking god. I totally forgot about scorpions! What the hell are we doing out here if we could get killed by a bug?!” she cried, wanting to get into the car and drive straight home and lock herself in her room.

“Don’t forget the rattlesnakes and tarantulas,” a husky voice said in her ear, making her jump and spill some of her drink.

“Goddamn it, O’Callaghan,” she cursed, automatically subtly stepping away from him. She’d known these guys for a few weeks now, and had come to actually like them and have fun with them, but that didn’t mean she trusted them. She liked her space.

“I’m just sayin,’ baby,” he smirked, reaching into the cooler to grab himself a drink. God, he looked good tonight, with a loose flannel shirt and tight skinny jeans. “It’s pretty dangerous, being out here,” he teased, leaning closer to her. “Especially at night.”

“Something tells me that you’re full of shit, John.”

“And what’s that?”

“The fact that you’re standing next to me without shoes on,” she answered, giving him a smug grin when she heard Kennedy laugh.

“She got ya, JohnO,” he laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get her back.”

“Like hell you will,” Lily said, rolling her eyes as she left him standing there and walked over to the campfire, taking a seat on Tim’s lap. She could feel John’s eyes on her with each step she took.