Chapter 9 Lily #2
Realizing we didn’t have much time before Dad, Uncle Cam, and Louis appeared, I rattled off the story about Sebastian, finishing up with yesterday’s promise to be his friend.
“Is this the guy who almost kissed you in the library?” Mum asked.
“He did?” Jan looked gleeful at the prospect, the dimples we both inherited from our father appearing. “You almost got kissed by a member of the royal family?”
“A lesser-known member of the royal family. And I don’t think that’s what was happening then, Mum. Not after talking with him.”
Mum raised an eyebrow. “Lily, whatever he says about his intentions now, his intention then was to kiss you.”
“What does he look like?” Aunty Jo asked Mum.
Mum grimaced. “It’s weird for me to comment on a student’s appearance.”
“Think of him less as a student and more as Lily’s friend who almost kissed her.”
“He’s beautiful,” Mum responded promptly, her lips pursing. “And a charmer, like her father.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Don’t compare him to Dad.”
“He had that glint of mischief in his eyes like your dad.”
Jo grinned. “I am very intrigued.”
“Here.” Jan stuck her phone in Aunty Jo’s face. “That’s him there.”
I almost fell off my stool. “Where did you get a photo?” I peered over Aunty Jo’s shoulder.
“I googled him. And after seeing him, I’d quite like to google him, if you know what I mean?” My sister winked with exaggeration, making Mum snort.
Scowling at her for a long second, I then looked back at the phone. Sebastian was googleable! There were actual shots of him at royal events. When he told me he was a lesser-known member of the royal family, I hadn’t really understood what that meant.
“Oh, Lily, Liv is right. He is beautiful. Go, you.” Aunty Jo nudged me playfully.
“No,” I grumbled, sitting back up on my stool. “Not go, me. Didn’t you hear what I said? He friend-zoned me. So, I have two questions for you. Do you think I’m being stupid forgiving him and giving him a chance? And is it silly to agree to be friends with a guy I’m very attracted to?”
Jan snorted. “Just say it. You want to google him, and no one blames you.”
“Would you stop using that as a verb for sex?”
“Fine. You want to fu—”
“Finish that sentence never, young lady.” Mum pointed a wooden spoon at my sister.
January gave her an unremorseful smile before she pretended to zip her mouth shut.
“Unlike you, I don’t do casual sex,” I said evilly.
“What?” Mum gaped at January. “Lily better be joking.”
My sister peered at me with a mixture of admiration and irritation. “It seems I’ve taught you too well, young Padawan.”
Aunty Jo smothered a laugh with her hand while I tried to swallow my own.
Jan turned calmly to Mum and said with mock seriousness, “I won’t lie to you, Mother. I’m afraid I have engaged in casual sex acts.”
“B-but … but you’re only nineteen!”
“Oh, they started when I was fifteen.”
Mum’s eyes bugged out of her head.
“Not sex sex,” January tried to reassure her. “I lost my virginity when I was sixteen. It was Michael Williams. Do you remember him?”
“Jan, I don’t think that’s helping.” Aunty Jo grimaced.
“Lily was sixteen too.”
Mum’s head whipped around to me.
“Thanks for throwing me under the bus with you. At least mine was with a steady boyfriend.”
“Who was a spectacular arsehole.”
“I’d like to rewind this moment. Or deafen myself with that carrot of yours.” Mum glowered at January.
“You did want Lily to confide in you more. I thought that meant you’d want me to too.” My sister shrugged unrepentantly.
“Look … I’m not stupid. I had my suspicions, but you could have left me with just the suspicions. I’m going to kill Michael Williams if I ever see him again.”
“You should. He was a rubbish lay.”
“Nope! No!” Mum stepped back from the stove. “New rule. Confide in me, yes, but spare me the details.”
“I think,” Aunty Jo spoke up calmly, “we should return to the topic at hand. Lily wants our advice.”
“Only if Mum isn’t too traumatized to continue?” I winced at her shell-shocked expression.
“Well, hold on a minute.” January leaned across the island. “Be honest, Mum. When did you lose your virginity? And don’t lie and say it was to Dad.”
Mum shared a look with Aunty Jo who shrugged. “Belle asked me, and I told her.”
“Fine.” Mum stirred the soup without looking at us. “I was twenty and in my sophomore year of college. I was very shy and inexperienced, and I wanted to get it over with. It was a huge mistake. Then I wasn’t with anyone until I met your dad and that isn’t a lie.”
“Oh, tell them everything, Liv. January, in particular, deserves the truth.” Aunty Jo wore a wicked smile.
“Jo …” Mum snorted. “Don’t.”
Intrigued, I pushed. “Now I want to know.”
“You do?” Jo smirked. “Okay, your mum asked your dad to give her flirting and sex lessons and that’s how they ended up together.”
Despite the ick factor of it being my parents, I kind of loved that. It was like a romance novel. “Really?”
“Don’t.” January glared. “Don’t encourage this line of discussion. It’s yucky.”
“What a mature descriptor.”
She stuck out her tongue at me.
“I think it’s romantic.” I smiled.
“You would.”
“It was and it wasn’t.” Mum gave me an understanding look. “I was attracted to your dad before all of that started. He only saw me as a friend. It could have destroyed our friendship.”
“Except I didn’t only see her as a friend.
” Dad’s voice had us turning to look toward the sliding doors.
He stepped inside with Uncle Cam and Louis at his back, his eyes on Mum.
“I was lying to myself. But you can only lie to yourself for so long before you risk losing the best person you’ve ever known. ”
Mum smiled sweetly as Dad reached her and pulled her in for a kiss. He nuzzled her neck, wrapping his arms around her waist before he looked at me. “What prompted the trip down memory lane?”
“Your daughters were trying to traumatize Liv, so I thought I’d try to traumatize them back. Didn’t work out with Lily. January looked faintly green, so that’s a win, I suppose.” Aunty Jo shrugged.
“Traumatize your mum how?” Dad narrowed his eyes behind his glasses.
Jan answered while I smiled up at Uncle Cam as he cuddled into Aunty Jo’s back.
September was proving mild this year, so he wore only a T-shirt, showing off his tattoos.
Jo’s younger brother, Cole, had a full sleeve (fair, considering he was an award-winning tattoo artist), but Uncle Cam was catching up to him, having added to his collection over the years.
“Hey, Uncle Cam. How are you?”
“I’m good, sweetheart. How are you?”
“Same.”
“Final year. Dissertation?”
I nodded, thinking about the workload awaiting me back at the flat. “I have a ton of interviews to conduct for mine, so I’ve spent the last few nights sending out a bunch of inquiries.”
“You’ve decided on a topic, then?” Dad asked, having overheard.
“I’m starving,” Louis grumbled as he rounded Mum’s side. “Is it ready, Aunt Liv?”
“Louis,” Uncle Cam warned. “That’s rude.”
“I’m getting ready to serve, sweetie. Soup first and then the roast. Sound good?”
“I could eat the entire fridge, so, aye, that’ll do.”
“Where do you put it?” January eyed the thirteen-year-old. He was tall like his dad but thin and wiry.
“In my gob.” Louis shrugged as if to say duh.
“Lily?”
I looked back at Dad. “Oh, sorry. I have.” I told him my plans for the dissertation.
“I’ll be interested to read it,” he said honestly.
“Me too.” Mum smiled proudly at me.
As we all settled down at the kitchen table, Aunty Jo leaned into me. “We’ll get a minute before the end of the day to talk about your royalty problem.”
Sure enough, after a boisterous lunch (any lunch with January was boisterous), Uncle Cam, Dad, and Louis were on cleanup duty, so we shuffled into the front room to pick up where we left off.
“I say yes to giving him another shot,” Mum said. “Just as long as you know where you stand with him.”
“Even though I’m attracted to him?”
“I’ve scrolled through his Instagram—do you know he has thirty-nine thousand followers—and there are photos of him with groups of people that include girls, but no solo one-on-one pics with him with girls. I’m going to ask around. See if he’s a player.” January nodded decidedly.
Thirty-nine thousand followers? He couldn’t be that lesser known, then.
Then what she said registered. “No. No, you’re not. The last thing I need is my wee sister asking around after Sebastian like I’m some kind of lovesick idiot.”
“But—”
“No.” I put my foot down. “I mean it, Jan. I’ll be really pissed off if you do.”
She blinked rapidly. “Okay, I won’t. I promise.”
Aunty Jo caught my eye. “I agree with your mum. Be his friend. You might stay friends, you might not. But you clearly like him. I think it’s worth giving him a shot.”
“And if I get hurt?”
“It’s better to get hurt trying than to ache with regret because you didn’t.”
I let that sink in, feeling better about my decision to meet Sebastian for coffee tomorrow after all.
“That was profound, Aunty Jo,” January said, ruining the moment. “I’m writing it down and using it on the podcast. Do you mind if I take the credit? Great, thanks. Love you.”