chapter 2

Hey, Phil, is Tommy coming tonight?" Lil Deville asked her twin brother as they were setting up the popcorn and movie for the night.

Phil gave her a skeptical look. "Yeah, why wouldn't he?" Phil looked down, shaking his head.

Lil found her brother especially annoying just then. It wasn't any big deal, her asking for Tommy. It was perfectly okay, seeing as they had been friends just as long as Phil had been friends with him. Sometimes it was really horrible having Phil as your brother. He just butted into everything.

So when Tommy, Chuckie, and Kimi got there a little bit later, Phil just had to say something.

"So, Tommy, Lil was asking about you," he mentioned casually, throwing a piece of popcorn into his mouth. He chewed with a big grin, turning to look at Lil. "Isn't that right, Lillian?"

Lil shook her head tiredly. "I just wanted to know if everyone was coming."

Tommy, whose eyes were on the movie as usual, just shrugged, pulling the popcorn away from Phil and taking a handful. "Leave her alone, Phil," he mumbled, not quite knowing why Phil needed to leave her alone.

Lil sighed heavily. The truth was, she had been madly in love with Tommy since a dance that they had when they were eleven. Tommy had gone up to her, sweet as usual, and asked her to dance politely. Lil had danced with her head on his shoulder all night, and Tommy never tried to pull away. Back then, she had thought there was a chance he liked her. Now, when they were sixteen, she knew better.

The movie ended (though Lil couldn't honestly recall any of it) a little bit early, so they decided to hang out for awhile. Chuckie went upstairs with Kimi to get more snacks, and Phil was off digging around in his closet to find something that he was supposed to give Tommy.

That left Tommy and Lil alone in the basement, sitting next to each other on the couch.

"Let's play truth or dare!" Tommy beamed, swiveling in his spot to face her. Lil felt something in her stomach swoop (he was sitting awfully close) and could only nod.

"Okay, you go first," he declared, running a hand swiftly through his short, purple hair.

"All right, truth or dare?"

Tommy smiled a cute little half smile. "Dare."

Oh great, Lil thought, I'm terrible at picking dares. "Okay…um…." She tried to think of something that would make her seem cute but also cool at the same time. "I dare you to…kiss Kimi!"

Tommy winced, but tried to play it off by ducking his head and rubbing his eye. Did that mean he liked her better than Kimi!

"I…" Tommy hesitated, taking a deep breath. "I would much rather kiss you."

Lil's heart leapt into her throat, and her eyebrows must have been all the way to her hairline, her eyes were so wide.

"Oh." Was all she could manage. "Your turn."

Your turn, she silently reprimanded herself. He practically says he wants to kiss you and all you say is YOUR TURN?

Tommy full-on blushed a dark shade of pink. He cleared his throat and went on with the conversation. "Truth or dare?"

Lil blinked. If she chose truth, what was the worst it could be? He asked her who she liked and she lied, so what? But Tommy was known for some pretty bad dares.

"Okay, truth."

Tommy smiled, reaching up and tucking a piece of her hair that was falling in her face behind her ear. Lil's heart sped up so much she swore it was audible.

"All right, I want the truth. Did you really ask about me earlier? Or was Phil just trying to be irritating?"

Lil really wanted to tell him that it was just Phil, but, well, hadn't he told her that he would rather kiss her than Kimi? Didn't she have to offer something to him?

"A little of both. I wanted to make sure you were coming. Because, well, movie night is so boring without you. But it wasn't a big deal, and Phil didn't need to say anything about it."

Okay, so maybe the part about it NOT being a big deal was stretching it just a little teeny weeny bit, but everything else was the truth.

"Aw, you do care." He chuckled a little bit in his new deep voice and leaned forward. Lil thought that if he said one more cute or sweet thing her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

"Truth or dare?" she asked, just for something to do besides look into his deep brown eyes.

"Truth."

Lil sucked in a deep breath. You can do this, you can do this, she thought. "Remember at that dance in sixth grade?"

Lil waited until Tommy nodded firmly. "Do you…do you remember how we slow danced to…a few songs?" Tommy nodded again, a smiled quirking at his lips.

"Did that mean as much to you as it did to me?" There it was, she had said it. Her heart hammered away and she held her breath, waiting for the answer.

"Absolutely." Tommy inched closer to her, resting his hand on the side of her face. Lil's stomach was doing somersaults. "That brings me to my next question. Truth or dare?"

Lil couldn't contain her excitement. She leaned in towards him, twirling her hands in her lap. She watched as Tommy mouthed the word 'Dare' to her, making her choice clear.

"Dare, I guess."

With his free hand, Tommy reached down and grabbed one of Lil's spazy hands. He brought it to his own face, so that they looked identical, one hand placed palm down on each other's cheeks.

"I dare you to let me kiss you."

It took her breath away, the way he didn't even hesitate. The intense look in his eyes. The way he brought his free hand around the back of her neck and leaned in, stopping just before their lips touched.

"What?" Lil asked, impatient for her long awaited Tommy-kiss.

"I'm waiting for you to agree to the dare," he mumbled, caressing the side of her face.

Lil bit her lip happily, then released immediately, not wanting her lips to be deflated for their kiss. She nodded frantically, as though her life depended on it. And to make this more romantic, she shifted her weight, sitting on Tommy's lap straddle style. She placed her free hand on Tommy's heart, feeling it beat just as rapidly as her own.

And then he kissed her. He started slow, him automatically taking the dominant side, just like she always imagined. He released her mouth, giving her soft, rhythmic kisses around her mouth, on her eyelids, down her neck, on the tip of her nose, and then right back to her lips again, this time more urgent than before.

He prodded her mouth open with his tongue, giving her first ever French kiss. They sat like this for a long time, kissing away, until Tommy started to move his hand to the base of her shirt, slowly reaching up and stroking her back and stomach pulling her shirt up farther and farther, until a good part of her midsection was showing.

At that point, they heard three sharp, intentional coughs from behind the couch. Lil pulled away immediately, pulling down her shirt and letting her heart rate return to normal. Tommy was slower, keeping his eyes closed and smiling as though he no longer cared what anybody else thought. He kept his hands around Lil's waist, turning her around and settling her less naughtily in his lap, not wanting to ever, ever take his hands off her.

"So guys, whatcha doing?" Chuckie said, first to break the silence. Lil leaned her head back and settled it comfortably into the nook between Tommy's broad shoulder and neck, letting her wavy brown hair fan out behind her.

"Dude," Phil commented, striding around the couch to face them head on, "you know that's my sister."

"Yeah, I know. And you also know that I've liked her for a long time, so why didn't you see this coming?" Tommy waited for a response, but after a few seconds of silence he shrugged it off.

"You better treat her nice, Pickles," Phil huffed from his place on the love seat.

Kimi went and sat next to her boyfriend, taking his hand in hers. "Jeez, Phil, leave them alone. Chuckie didn't threaten you when you asked me out." She rolled her eyes.

Phil looked over at Chuckie who shrugged in his Chuckie way. "It wouldn't have helped much," he said simply, sitting on the floor and leaning against Tommy and Lil's couch.

Pretty soon, they were all talking again, laughing and having a good time as usual. A few times, when Phil wasn't looking, Tommy snuck Lil a few kisses, each of them better than the last.

And they were happy. Every single one of them. And that's the way it was from there on in. And Tommy and Lil couldn't be happier about it.

Five Months Later:

"Please, baby, listen to me!" Tommy pleaded, clasping his hands together in prayer position.

I pushed him away, scowling at his dirty, lying face. The bastard. "No! I'm so done with you, Tommy!"

I yanked his front door open, storming out into a light drizzle of rain, but not even worrying about my hair. Yes, that was how serious this was. "Why? Because I wasn't afraid to tell you the truth? Because I couldn't keep letting you live that way? Why, Lil, just tell me why!"

I stopped halfway down his front walk, the drizzle starting to become a slightly heavier rain. A sucky day all around, I supposed. "Because…." For a moment, words failed me. I knew that he had a point, and I knew that I was over reacting slightly, but hell if I was going to admit that. I didn't need him lording that one over on me, too. "Because it's not true!"

I wanted to run away, all the way back home to my brother, demanding that he tell me what was going on. But I didn't, I couldn't, and I simply watched Tommy reproachfully as he took a measured step towards me.

"But it is though, honey. It is." Tommy uttered softly, his eyes never straying from my face. I felt tears come up and push out of my eyes, but I made no move to stop them. I doubted he could tell anyways, seeing as the rain was now splattering us both with heavy, fat drops.

"No," I moaned, letting him reach out to me and touch my arm. I almost melted at the relief that effortless gesture gave me. "Phil…Phil wouldn't do something like that."

Tommy took another step forward, more confident this time, and started rubbing my arm soothingly. "I know that it seems like that, but yes, yes he did."

Any softness that he thought he might have gained in the last five minutes had hardened right up. I whipped my hand away from his touch as though he had burned me with his fingertips. "Stop saying that!" I hissed, nearly tripping as I tried to take a hasty step backwards. But the rain was now so thick that I could barely see Tommy's face two feet in front of me, let alone where the sidewalk ended and where Tommy's yard started.

Tommy closed his eyes briefly, running his hands through his soaked hair, before springing them back open. "No!" he declared firmly, his eyes narrowing. "I won't keep trying to protect you from what you HAVE to know is the truth. I can't and I won't lie to you."

Lil couldn't believe what she was hearing. He had to be kidding. Tommy Pickles, the KING of telling the truth, just not the whole truth, was standing there telling me that he WOULDN'T lie to me?! Are you freaking kidding?

"For the last time, Tommy, I know that what you're saying is wrong." I couldn't help but raise my voice to match the level of his, but I was trying to keep the calm he had previously installed into my body.

"But you don't know that! Because he told me himself! Everybody but you and Kimi knew! Phil-"

"MY BROTHER IS NOT A CHEATER!"

The words resounded around the air around us, spoken so loudly and so desperately that they seemed to seep into my skin, flowing with my blood, pumping through my heart, and finally reaching my brain. And that when I realized it; my brother was, in fact, a cheater.

The signs had always been there! The way he would say he was going out and then minutes later I would get a text from Kimi asking if I had seen him. They way he blushed furiously and practically bolted whenever that show Cheaters was on while I was flipping through channels. Even how I found TWO cans of Pepsi (one regular and on diet) on Phil's floor after I came home from shopping with Kimi. Phil was cheating on Kimi, and from what Tommy had just said, everyone knew it now, except for Kimi.

I gasped aloud, covering my mouth. The tears that had been loosely flooding down my face now began to pour along with the rain, my sobs like the thunder that was starting to boom in the distance. "Phil…he...he…." I couldn't seem to be able to get the words out. It had been far easier to deny it than to admit it was true.

Tommy nodded sullenly. He hadn't been lying after all. "I'm so sorry, Lil. But honestly, this doesn't affect us."

I slowly and deliberately lowered my hands from my face, sure that it was red and blotchy but not caring whatsoever. Excuse me? Doesn't affect us? Um, his best friend, aka my BROTHER, had just cheated on my best friend...and he knew about it the ENTIRE TIME! Somehow, that just wasn't settling well in my stomach.

"Oh, wow, Tommy. You would say that, too." For some reason, probably because I was a moody bitch today, I was suddenly ticked off at anybody who had anything to do with this entire thing. That included Kimi, who was such an idiot for not seeing it, Tommy, who never even said anything to me, and especially Phil, who is as big of an asshole as they get. At least, he was being one right now.

Tommy flinched at the intended sharpness of my words. I knew that he understood completely, but he still made the feeble attempt to be indignant. "What was that supposed to mean?" he asked half-heartedly.

"That means that it takes a cheater to know a cheater, and isn't that right, Tommy?" His features instantly flitted with pain, and I felt my stomach sink. What the hell was the matter with me? How was I being such a bitch to Tommy, the boy I loved?

Tommy sighed, leaning his head backwards. "I'm never going to be able to live that one down, am I?" I felt so immeasurably bad it wasn't even funny. I mean, Tommy had never done it to me, but there was one time, after a huge fight with his ex-girlfriend Nicole, that he had gone to some party that he wasn't even supposed to be at, and one thing led to another and BAM! Good ole Tommy Pickles had cheated on his girlfriend. Not that she ever found out. They officially broke up the next day, and Tommy never had the chance (or felt the need) to tell her about the bar-slut.

"No," I answered, figuring I might as well be honest with him. As angry as I was, I had begun to cool down a bit. I guess it was Tommy's presence; he just had a certain effect on me. "But it's all right." I smiled up at him shyly, afraid that he might still be mad at me.

"No, it's actually not." He looked down, and when I reached out to put a comforting hand on his shoulder, he shrugged it away.

"Hey." I said firmly, placing both hands more solidly on his forearms, holding him in place so that he couldn't turn away. "It doesn't matter to me. I know that you're not that person, and everybody has their mess-up moments."

Tommy bit his lip. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." I reached my hands up from his arms, instead placing them on either side of his face. "And you know what?"

He released his lip from between his teeth, looking down at me with a mischievous smile. "No, I don't know what."

I returned his grin, and continued, "I forgive you for being the one who had to tell me this."

"Hmmm," he hummed in mock thoughtfulness, "I don't remember exactly apologizing for that."

I shrugged. "You must have a selective memory."

He snorted. "You must have selective hearing. As in, you hear whatever you want to hear."

"Oh, you know you're jealous," I teased, glad that all the previous tension had seemingly evaporated.

He nodded, but more of a 'is that right?' nod than a 'sure, okay' nod. So it was alright. "You wanna know something?" He snaked his hands down around my waist, pulling up slightly so that he made me stand on my tippy toes, so that our lips were closer together than before.

"Always." I whispered, because the moment seemed right for whispering.

That was when he said It. For the first time ever, too. "I love you, Lillian Deville." It gave me the chills, and it just felt so right!

It took all of my strength to keep my grin from over-stretching my entire face. "I love you too, Thomas Pickles." And then he kissed me.

His lips lightly pecked mine, as he did to start off every kiss, and then I wrapped my arms around his neck and he enfolded his around my waist tightly, embracing me so hard that I could hardly breathe. Not that I wanted to, anyways. Breathing would make this kiss end all too soon.

In one swift movement, he picked me up off the ground, our lips still locked together, and I bound my legs around his hips. And we stayed there for quite some time, me, floating in the air, him, holding us both up. Just kissing, kissing in the rain. And I remember thinking, if not for the first time, that even though things were pretty bad in the real world, right now, they weren't. Right now, I was here with Tommy. And right now, I was happy.

Lil lead Tommy into the familiar room, with the blue bedspread, and the shelf filled with various films. The window shades were closed, and he reached over and turned the floor lamp on, suddenly filling the room with artificial light.

He watched her for a second, her breathing deep and calm, her hands steady at her sides. She was beautiful, Lil was. Her shoulder length, chestnut hair waved down thickly, framing her slightly square face perfectly. She had emerald eyes, eyes so green that it would take a million years to count all the shades they portrayed. She smiled.

He was so incredibly handsome. Lil marveled in the fact that yes, he was hers. She watched him, still in his rented tux, as he blinked serenely, reaching up to brush a pieced of jet black hair out of his cerulean eyes. She took a reluctant step forward (she could be content to watch him all day) and swung her arm forward to grab his hand. Together they sunk onto his bed.

Lil made sure not to wrinkle her pretty pink prom dress, letting go of Tommy's hand and smoothing out the wrinkles. He kept his gaze trained on her, determined not to take it off of her the entire night. He didn't want to miss a single part of this, a night he would remember for the rest of his life.

Tommy spoke first. "Hi," he whispered, because the atmosphere seemed right for whispering.

Lil grinned again, biting her lip and looking down. When she met his steady gaze again, she murmured, "Hi."

They sat like that for a moment, both of them just staring at each other, not a care for anything else in the world. This was how Lil knew Tommy was the one. There were few people in the world that didn't need words to communicate how they felt to another person. It was the happiest coincidence that two of them had ended up together.

Everything about tonight had been a disaster. It was the night of her senior prom, and Lil had been waiting for it forever. She and Kimi had gotten dressed up together at Kimi's house, but Chuckie had stolen all of Kimi's make-up in a last effort attempt to get her not to go with Phil. After that whole mess, Tommy and Phil had arranged for a limo to pick them all up. Of course, they had invited Chuckie and Suzie to go along with them, but Chuckie had refused. His hatred of Phil was insurmountable, and he hadn't said three words to either Kimi or Phil after she had taken him back.

Once they got there, they found out that the D.J. they had booked had the stomach flu, and couldn't make it. The head of the planning committee had booked this last minute band, who was quite horrible, and no one had danced at all. That is, no one besides Tommy and Lil had danced, and that was only during the slow songs. EVERY slow song, to be exact.

Then, afterwards, they were all supposed to go out to eat at a local restaurant, but the limo driver didn't show up to pick them up. And once they and finally gotten a ride, the restaurant and cancelled their reservation and given their seats to another party.

The night ended on a particularly bad note, with Chuckie finding them hanging around outside the restaurant waiting for another ride, and he saw Phil holding Kimi's hand. Chuckie promptly punched Phil in the nose, smattering Kimi's powder blue dress in blood, and they had to take Phil to the E.R. His nose was, in fact, broken. Kimi was still crying when she and Tommy left.

So now, here they were, on what was supposed to be the best night of their lives. And it was ruined. But somehow, that was okay, it didn't matter. Because right now, she was with Tommy, and she knew that he would make things better for her.

"Some night." He smiled at her, somehow summing up the whole disastrous thing in two small words. A feat only Tommy could accomplish.

"Ugh," Lil muttered, running a hand over her face. Tommy frowned, reaching forward and moving her away, laying it gently in her lap.

"That's better," he mumbled, smiling lightly. Suddenly, the air in his bedroom seemed alive, electric, and she knew exactly what she wanted.

Lil bit her lip, staring directly into his icy eyes, fighting to find the right words. She didn't have to though. "So…" he began, taking a deep breath.

She rolled over, planting myself on his lap. "Yeah…" she breathed, wrapping her arms around his neck. Lil loved how he didn't want to be the one who pushed it. He was just the sweetest boy ever.

He smiled, pulling her impossibly closer, and ran a hand down her back, starting at the nape of her neck, and going down, down until he reached the zipper that held her dress in place. Her heart skipped a beat, and the usual butterflies she had in my stomach from just being around him and turned into birds.

He pecked her on the lips first, then placed his mouth back onto hers. He kissed her passionately, flicking his tongue in and out. Slowly, he began to lean back so that he was laying on the bed on his back, and Lil was resting on top of him.

He looked up at her, his stare intense, and whispered, "You're sure?"

But for Lil, it wasn't a question. He shouldn't have asked it, that was how sure she was. She wouldn't answer him; she couldn't. Instead of talking, she pressed her mouth back to his, suddenly aware of his fingers still locked on her dress's zipper.

She reached behind her, keeping her other hand behind his neck, and placed her fingers over his. Lightly, she guided his hand down. And he knew, without her telling him, that she was ready. And him, hell, he'd been ready since the first time she'd kissed him.

They pulled the dress off together, and in that moment, the only thing in the world that mattered was each other.