Your Secret's Safe With Me

Lily, Luke, and Tim stood on the doorstep of the O’Callaghans’ home in a lively, middle-class neighborhood. They were introducing Luke and John’s brother Ross, just like he’d said, in hopes of giving him some sort of friend before school started.

Lily really, really didn’t want to be there; she wished Lynn had come with Luke and Tim like she’d said she was going to. Instead she bailed on the last minute, saying she had come down with the flu. Lying ast.

Suddenly the door swung open, revealing a middle-aged woman with sandy blonde hair. A gust of sugary-smelling air emitted as she stood in the doorframe and smiled brightly, saying, “Hi there! Nice to see you again, Timothy.” She hugged the boy before turning to the other two. “And you must be Lynn and Luke! I’m Mrs. O’Callaghan, but go ahead and call me Jenny.”

“It’s Lily, actually,” she said shyly, attempting a smile out of politeness. “Lynn’s our sister.”

“Oh, dear, I’m sorry! John must have gotten names mixed up. Anyways, it’s so nice to meet you two. Come in, come in,” Jenny said, leaving the door wide open as Tim followed her in. Lily and her brother were right on his heels, sticking to him like glue.

Jenny walked them into a large room, where a man and a young boy were sitting on the couch watching a baseball game on the big screen. “This is my husband, John the Fourth,” she said, gesturing to the man.

He stood, offering them a smile. He was tall and skinny with a strong jawline and some facial hair; definitely John in thirty years. “You can call me Jay,” he smiled, shaking their hands as Tim wandered off towards the kitchen, smelling food. “And this is my son, Ross. Rossy boy, come on over here.”

The boy on the couch grumbled about his unwanted nickname but complied, walking over to them. “I’m Ross, like my dad so kindly pointed out.”

“Nice to meet you, man,” Luke said, holding his hand out for him to shake. “I feel like I’ve been set up on play date,” he laughed.

“Trust me, my mom’s set me up on so many of these things that it doesn’t even faze me anymore,” Ross chuckled -sounding exactly like his older brother, who was nowhere to be found- before continuing the conversation with her brother. Lily felt herself wandering away as they talked about some baseball team, looking around the room for Tim, her one and only security blanket.

“Lily, dear, would you mind going upstairs and telling John that dinner’s done? It’s the second door on the right,” Jenny asked, not really giving her an option to say no as she headed back into the kitchen, probably to fend Tim off of the waiting food.

Lily sighed, heading up the nearby staircase and looking for the right room. Absentmindedly she pushed open the first door she saw, not bothering to knock or take a second to think.

And when the door opened, hitting against the wall and bouncing off, she found the tall, lanky boy that she’d been sent to find.

Aaaaaaand he was naked.

“Holy shit, Lily! What the fuck?!” he gasped, yanking at the shower curtain and pulling it around his waist.

“Sorry.. s-sorry, I thought -I thought this was your room, your mom told me to come find you-” she stuttered, blushing furiously. The only time she’d been around a naked man had been horrible, horrible memories for her, and to say this made her uncomfortable was an understatement.

“Can you at least knock next time?”

She didn’t reply, only ran out the room, shutting the door behind her.

Well, there was her awkward encounter for the night.

***

Everyone was sitting at the dinner table when John finally came down the stairs, thankfully fully dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and an old flannel shirt.

“Oh, well it’s about time,” his mother teased as he took a seat at the table across from Lily and Luke, his cheeks a shade of pink.

“Yeah, sorry,” he muttered, grabbing his plate and dumping food onto it.

“So Lily, you guys used to live in Michigan? What part?”

“Detroit,” she answered in between bites of pasta. “This food is delicious, Mrs. O’Cal- Jenny,” she smiled, trying to diverge the conversation away from her.

“Oh, thank you, dear. It’s Jay’s mother’s recipe; it was my inheritance,” she joked, holding up a fork spun with noodles.

“Say, Luke, you play baseball?” Jay asked.

“I used to,” he replied. “I, uh, didn’t have time for it last school year,” he answered, though Lily knew the truth. He wasn’t allowed to play.

“Well you should definitely go out for Mountain Pointe’s team! I’m sure they’ll be glad to have you. We always have a small team,” Jay said. “Ross plays himself, too.”

“Yeah. We’re big baseball fans around here,” Ross chuckled, shoving his mouth full of food, which promptly earned a scolding from him mother for talking with his mouth full.

“Hey Johnny Boy, remember when you and I used to play ball?” Tim grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at John as they shared some secret.

“Ah, those were the days,” he laughed, smirking at Tim before his eyes flickered to Lily, who’d been watching him. The corners of his mouth pulled up in a sly grin as they stared at each other, having an undeclared staring contest.

Also an un-winnable contest; John was stubborn and headstrong, Lily was stubborn and headstrong. They’d go down fighting. Even if it was over a stupid fucking stare.

From then on, Lily and John would never, ever go down without a fight, about anything.

***

“Hey John?”

“Yeah?”

“Sorry, for, uh, walking in on you,” Lily said, sitting down next to him on the front porch of his childhood home, smoking a cigarette. “Those’ll kill you, ya know?”

He was silent for a second. “You want one?”

“Duh.”

John chuckled, tugging his pack out of his pocket and handing her one. “You’re a damn hypocrite, you know that, Lily?”

“Mmm,” she replied, taking a deep drag from the stick. “I know.”

“So.. Did you like what you saw?”

She almost choked on her cigarette. “Excuse me?”

He looked over at her with a crooked grin on his face. “Just kiddin’, dear. Unless, you did like it?”

“Oh, please, John,” she said, letting out a harsh laugh. “Get over yourself.”

“So I think Ross and Luke hit it off pretty well.”

“Yeah, I’m glad. I hope he’ll have a good year.”

“You’ve got a big responsibility, ya know? Taking care of that kid.”

“He’s my brother. What else can I do?” Lily scoffed.

“That’s true. I’d do the same thing. Can I.. can I ask what happened to your parents?”

Lily bit her lip, thinking. Before she knew what she was doing, the lie shot out of her mouth. “They’re both dead. Car accident.” Which was half true; her dad was dead. But he’d gotten shot and killed. “Lynn and I have been taking care of Luke since we were sixteen.”

“Wow. Impressive,” John said, finishing off his cigarette.

“Yeah, well. Not really.” With that, thinking that she’d shared enough information for one night, got up and went back inside, leaving him to sit with his thoughts.

It was weird for him, being in the house he’d grown up in but no longer lived in. And then there was Lily, eating dinner at his dinner table.

Not to mention her walking in on him after a shower.

God, she got his heart racing. She was crazy, completely crazy. And John knew that she didn’t trust him one bit. He didn’t take it personally; she didn’t trust anyone -except for Tim- and he could tell. Everyone could tell. That was just who she was: closed off and mysterious.