Chapter 7 #2
Lily’s eyes widened. Wren? But no—because Wren was supposed to be at a party and not here… “Wha-what are…you?” she asked, puzzled.
“I called Beth a few days ago and we planned the whole thing. It was so hard not to tell you, especially since I knew you were so annoyed about the party and it wasn’t even real!” Wren beamed, pleased with herself at managing to pull one over on Lily.
“I wasn’t annoyed.” She shrugged, trying to act unbothered but fully aware of the smirk on her lips.
“And you knew?” She turned to her mama. “You knew and didn’t say anything?
Since when are you two teaming up against me?
What happened to Team Gallagher Girls? Huh? Betraying your own flesh and blood.”
Wren laughed as Lily and Beth climbed the few stairs onto the porch.
“I’ll play double agent any day for a good cause,” Beth said, reaching out and pulling Wren into a hug. “Hi, sweetie. Glad to have you back around for a few days.”
Wren grinned, returning the hug. “Thanks for the flawless execution of Operation Fortnight.”
“I still don’t like the idea of you two working together behind my back,” Lily said, rolling her eyes.
“Wren, did you have enough time to—uh—successfully conclude all your plans for Operation Fortnight?”
Lily giggled at her mama’s awkward attempt to play along with Wren’s game. She loved her for trying.
“Yes, of course, Operation Fortnight has been fully executed down to the very last detail.”
“And when does the guest of honor get clued in on all these details?” Lily asked sarcastically, sliding her arm around Wren’s waist and leaning into her.
“Now? Yeah, now,” Wren said, squeezing her hand, pulling Lily towards the basement stairs.
“I’m heading out in about twenty minutes,” Beth called down the hall. “I’ll be out for a few hours, but I’m thinking about picking up Chinese for dinner. Usual order?”
“Sounds good,” she and Wren said in unison as they descended the stairs into the basement where Lily’s room was.
But before they got to the bottom, Wren turned and blocked her, swiftly leaning in to kiss her with lips that tasted like the cucumber mint chapstick she had gotten obsessed with over the summer—the very chapstick that Lily now always made sure to have on hand because Wren was constantly losing hers.
“So, were you surprised?” Wren asked, a tiny twinkle in her eye.
Lily nodded, eagerly reaching out and clasping her hands behind Wren’s neck, under her curls, pulling her forward to kiss her again. “Extremely, but what about the party for Mattie?”
“Mattie has a birthday every year…but it’s in May.
” Wren shrugged. “But even if there had actually been other plans, I would have picked you in a heartbeat. You’re my favorite person to hang out with.
” Her voice was timid, almost like she was unsure about something, which was silly because there literally wasn’t a single thing that Wren could do or say that Lily didn’t absolutely love.
“Are you ready for the second part of the surprise?”
“There’s more?” Lily asked, curious as to what else Wren had up her sleeve.
“Yeah, well, I know you’ve been a little down lately about getting injured and the rehab and not going back to school, and I know since the Olympics I’ve been so busy and I kind of got the feeling that maybe you were upset by that and I wanted to just, you know, do something to make you smile.”
Wren pulled her forward, leading her into the living area in the basement that usually had a couch, TV, and the most comfortable oversized armchair Lily had ever sat in. Now it was completely unrecognizable, draped in blankets, sheets, and twinkling fairy lights.
“Welcome to Fort Lily!” Excitement took over Wren’s face as she pulled back a blanket flap, revealing the inside of the fort—the floor piled with pillows, couch cushions, snacks, and video game controllers.
Lily still hadn’t said anything. A slight twinge of guilt gnawed at her as she processed all of the thought Wren had put into creating this for her when all Lily had done was be annoyed that they hadn’t been able to see each other much over the last few weeks.
Wren’s smile fell at Lily’s silence. “You don’t like it. It’s too much, isn’t it. I thought—I don’t know. It’s pretty stupid—”
Lily cut her off, throwing her arms once more around her neck. Wren instinctively caught her around her waist.
“I love it,” Lily whispered. “It’s perfect.”
“Okay, cool.” Wren breathed a sigh of relief. “It took me way longer to set everything up than I thought it was going to. Beth told me to let myself in with the spare key, and I literally had just finished putting the little lights up when she texted me that you guys were in the driveway.”
Lily ducked through the blanket flap Wren was still holding open, slipping off her shoes as she scooted across the cushions that padded the floor. Fairy lights cast a warm glow over the inside, making everything feel warm and a little hazy.
Wren flopped down next to her, shifting around to prop herself up with pillows, reaching to hand a controller to her. “You know that snowboarding game we watched Mother Goth play a few months ago? The one for that weird square console?”
Lily nodded, remembering the game. It looked fun. They had added it to their keep an eye out for list—the list of items she and Wren looked for while thrifting.
“Well, I finally found the console”—Wren raised the pink controller in her hand—“and Dylan found the game for us. So now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I’d like to kick your ass at yet another game.” She grinned and turned on the console, the grainy logo splashing across the TV screen.
“Oh, you are so on, Parker. Do I need to pull up the spreadsheet? I’m pretty sure I hold the crown for Queen of the Console,” Lily quipped, her words dripping with the competitive snark she and Wren so often took with each other.
Wren grumbled something inaudible under her breath, grinning as she selected her character, and the two of them settled into the game, keeping track of races won, points accumulated, and other data points—all of which factored into their scoring metrics.
At some point, Beth called down the stairs, letting them know she was heading out and that she would text them when she was on her way back with food, but they didn’t acknowledge her, each too busy playfully trash-talking the other as they raced down the digital mountain.
As they played, Lily’s body loosened, finally feeling like she could let go and relax because right here, next to Wren, was her happy place.
“Are you fucking serious? No!” Wren laughed as Lily managed to snag first place right from under her via a secret passage Lily had discovered the previous round.
“And that’s why I’m the queen.” She stuck her tongue out at Wren, setting her controller aside and rolling over to face her.
Wren followed, propping her head up with her hand. The warm light cast shadows across her long features. Lily traced the light down Wren’s body, over the curve of her hip, as she thought about how perfectly timed all of this was.
“How do you always know what I need before I do?” she asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” Wren asked, dark eyebrows knitting together.
“Like, I don’t know, you always know exactly what’s going to make me feel better and I never even have to ask you.
” She picked up Wren’s hand as she tried to explain, intertwining their fingers, fondly admiring the slightly chipped Puget Sound Pride navy nail polish Wren wore for good luck on game days.
Their eyes met and Lily’s breath caught in her chest, the words she wanted to say so badly on the tip of her tongue, ready to be shouted from the rooftops in an obnoxiously loud, over-the-top kind of way because she was head over heels in love with Wren Parker.
But Wren beat her to it.
“Because I love you, Lily.” Her smile was already wide and growing wider. “I’ve loved you for a while, but you and your pre-Olympic rules…”
Lily reached out, shoving her playfully. Wren caught her arm, pulling her body closer and kissing her so deeply that Lily momentarily forgot she was even capable of thought—one of her favorite kinds of kisses Wren gave.
“I love you so much,” Wren whispered.
Lily’s pulse jumped at hearing Wren say those words to her. She had known, of course, but there was such a difference between hearing the words I love you and feeling them. The combination of finally having both—yeah, that was currently blowing her mind.
“I love you, too.” Lily’s voice was sure and steady as she moved purposefully, knowing exactly how she wanted to mark this moment forever.
She grabbed the front of Wren’s oversized rugby shirt, pulling her forward, their lips crashing together, Wren’s hands finding her hips.
They had made out plenty of times before, had explored each other’s bodies over their clothes, and in a few particularly memorable makeout sessions had even touched each other’s boobs, which had been so, so, so cool because why was no one talking about how perfect the feeling of a boob in your hand was! ? And Wren? Her boobs were amazing.
There had even been one particularly hot and heavy make-out session right before the Olympics, where Lily had almost said to hell with it and thrown the rules out the window right then and there, but Wren, out of respect, had pulled back. Tonight, there wasn’t any of that. She was ready.
Wren rolled on top of her, the weight of her lanky body pressing Lily perfectly into the cushions as they kissed.
Lily wove her fingers deep into Wren’s mess of dark curls, nails massaging her scalp in the way she knew Wren liked.
Her body twitched with her own need to feel more of Wren and that need only increased with every soft sound that left Wren’s lips.