" If you get a job, you will make enough to pay rent and manage expenses," said Holly after thinking for a few minutes.
They decided on this plan as a way to save the store. Holly would run the store while Lily was at work and Lily would take over for the last few hours after her work ended. They knew it was going to be tough but it was the only ‘plan' they could come up with.
Lily was eighteen, and had just graduated high school, and was in her first semester of college. In other people's eyes, she had the perfect life. She had a full ride into college, and she was dating someone that she cared about deeply. Lily and Alec Cross had been together since they were fifteen. She was euphorically and deeply in love with Alec. He was handsome, caring and unbelievably intelligent.
Besides Holly, Alec had been the person that had been there the most for her. Whenever her father would start in on her, and Holly was at work, Lily would climb out her window and would run to Alec's home. It blew her mind how different their worlds were. His mother and stepfather had loved and supported him no matter what. They never screamed at him or got drunk and took their day out on him or his younger sister. They had dinner each and every night, and expressed their love for them constantly.
The fight hadn't exactly come out of nowhere. It had been the fifth time that Lily had come home from working a five-hour shift at the Cookie Hut, just to find Alec lounging on the couch, playing video games. Lily had gone to school full time, worked part time, and had to study for finals. All the while, Alec had yet to find a decent job. He had yet to even look.
Lily threw down her book bag, and the screams just came rolling from her mouth.
"Alec what the hell!?" Her words made him jump.
"Hey baby. What's wrong? Bad day?" He asked in a warm voice.
Lily looked around. The apartment was a mess, and it had all been his. She had left it clean when she left before dawn.
"It wasn't until I came home! Alec, what the hell is all this? Why is the sink full, why are you just sitting on your ass?" Her words were bitter and acidic, but she couldn't stop herself.
Her feet were killing her, she was exhausted and she was irritated.
"Babe, I'll clean it up, I just haven't had time."
Lily ran to their room and locked the door as she slammed it. She yelled while she beat her fists into a pillow. The tears came rolling from her eyes, and her stomach hurt.
She leaned down onto the mattress and allowed the anger to wash over her. Eventually, the exhaustion took her over, and she fell asleep.
As a few hours passed, she woke up, groggy and feeling pitiful. She knew what she had to do, and she knew that she had to do it now.
Lily liked to have her life planned out to perfection. She had always wanted to own a bookshop and was focused on that goal. She needed someone who felt the same sense of purpose. She was looking for drive that would motivate her. Unfortunately she did not find it in Alec.
As she made her way out of the room, the smell of cleaner rushed her. The apartment had been spotless, and Alec stood doing the dishes. Lily bit her lip as she looked at the man that she loved as she shook her head.
"Alec, we need to talk." She mumbled as she made her way to their couch.
Lily felt like there was a hot wrought iron in her throat. This was the last thing that she wanted, but she had had enough, and there was no end to this in sight. How many times had she asked him to change? How many chances had she given him? Too many to count, that was for sure.
Her sister had told her so many times to respect herself, and she felt that by staying with Alec, she would be doing the exact opposite. She looked into Alec's deep eyes.
They had had so many wonderful years together. Alec took a deep breath as he realized what was happening.
"Alec, I can't do this anymore." Said Lily said as she looked down at her hands that were a sweaty mess.
"Lil, don't."
"Alec, I've given you so many chances. You keep disappointing me." Lily bit at her lip. "I just don't think that we go together anymore."
Alec was taken aback, but still kept his cool demeanor.
"What in the hell is this about Lil?" Alec asked, his voice raw.
"Ambition, Alec. You have none."
"Lil, you assume that just because I don't have every moment of my day sorted and spoken for that I don't have a future. That's not true Lily "
"There's no going with it when it comes to the future Alec! You have to mold it, make it happen!" Lily heard the harshness, but didn't mind it.
"You're way is not the only way Lily."
There was a strange emotion in Alec's eyes, one that Lily ignored, no matter how much they begged her not to.
"I've made up my mind, Alec. I'm done."
"There has to be something I can do Lil," Alec said, choking back his emotions as he spoke.
"You already had the chance. I'm going to Holly's, I want all your things gone by the time I get back." Lily said heartlessly as she stood and left the house, feeling both relief and regret.
"Fine Lil, if that's the way you want it. The only thing you give a damn about is that book store any way!" Alec yelled in anger behind her as she left the apartment.
***
Lily sat with a knot in her stomach as she watched the clock tick by. It was agony to sit and wait. She was more than uncomfortable, sitting there helplessly as her world was endangered.
Blue Technologies was the world's largest technological companies, and Holly had managed to set Lily up with a secretary position with the CEO. It was just another thing to add to her list of reasons why she would never be able to repay her sister.
It had been a couple of years since Lily had been to a job interview, and she was suddenly reminded as to why she was so intent on being her own boss. She hated the feelings of inadequacy that came along with begging for a job.
She couldn't help but to compare her to all of the other women that had appeared for the interview. They were all beautiful women. All dressed in suits and dresses that she wasn't able to pronounce the designers of. She gnawed at her lip, wishing that she had dressed better. She wore the same old skirt that she had worn to apply for her business license, with a fitted white shirt, again a couple of years old.
"Brandi Goss," A woman that sat at a round desk called in her valley girl accent.
A tall blonde followed the woman back. She strutted with a stride that asserted strength. She looked like a woman that showed up on covers of New York Magazines with the title, "How Does She Do It?" Lily couldn't even imagine the confidence that she would have radiated during her interview.
Less than ten minutes passed before Brandi came pouring out of the back office. She wore a mask of aggravation and harsh disappointment. She slammed her Jimmy Choo heels on the tile with loud clicks that made a point. A point that she was done with whatever she had left behind her. It made Lily even more nervous for what lay behind the doors to that office.
"Lily Day," the valley girl accent called like a demon calling Satan's next subject.
Lily stood and followed the woman to an office that screamed prestige. Glass and stainless steel sat all around her, intimidating her with their gleam. Respected awards lined the walls, along with the company logo, letting Lily know that she was lucky to be sitting where she was. She thought about leaving the office, about running from the intimidation that she felt, but she shook it off and focused by counting the clicks on the clock.
After a few uncomfortable moments alone, she began to wonder if the CEO had simply given up on finding a secretary. She wondered if they had found someone already? She imagined her bookshop going up for sale.
As the thought passed through her mind, so did some designer cologne that she couldn't quite put her finger on. It was vaguely familiar, but there was something different about it. It was familiar in the way that flowers are in the spring.
Lily listened as heels came clacking onto the tile that lined the office. Lily turned to look over her shoulder.
He stood about six foot three and had a muscular build. His skin was a deep brown, and looked bronze in the strong daylight that the office windows let in. His eyes were what sparked the memory the quickest in Lily's mind. They were a light smoked topaz, and were unlike any Lily had seen before. He had strong facial features that were hard to ignore. The word that came to her mind the fastest was handsome. And then the rush of memories that were still blurry.
Even being familiar with the features, Lily had to take a few moments to place the face. When she had last seen it, it had been younger. She saw the same emotion of trying to figure it out, on his face.
The man that stood in front of her had once been a boy, a boy that she had known inside and out, in the most intimate of ways. The name came creeping up to her mouth, where it lingered for more than a moment. It had been years since the name had left her lips, or traced her mind.