Chapter Text
Entering the warm and cozy room made Chris indifferent. He lived, ate and worked there 24/7 and coming back to it wasn't new. The only new thing about the warm house was a young 10 year old--
A young 10 year old who had a look of confusion and disapprove plastered on her face. Chris shoke his head, his nostrils flaring.
"What did I do?"
"What do you mean?" Lillian dropped her bag on the small tile where Chris' shoes were. Her meadow green eyes were dark with annoyance, confusion and something else Chris couldn't quite put his finger on.
Chris exhaled sharply but then chuckled lightly, his lips curving up into a light-hearted smile. Lillian recoiled with bewilderment. She now wore a blank face and her hands slowly fell to her sides.
"What's so funny?" Lillian looked around the room like she was trying to find the answer but couldn't. Her eyes trailed to her feet instead-folding her hands behind her back.
"Nothing" Chris simply said, causally strolling into the kitchen to leave the young-girl alone with her own thoughts. Lillian was truly clueless, her mind crashing with turmoil. She tried to process why Chris was so happy and excited. She knew it wasn't about her. That thought made her heart pang with pain, knowing that her own cousin wasn't excited about having her over for the summer. It made her feel so fragile, so little--so broken. Her lost pools of meadow swelled with tears as she sniffed, her feet moving her over to the kitchen counter.
She slowly sat down on the stool, looking at Chris looking for something in the fridge. She noticed something -two things actually- about Chris. The first thing that he kept looking repeatedly at his phone, long - hard stares like someone he despised was bothering him through his phone. The second was how he seemed to not notice her existence, moving rapidly- like the waves at the beach- removing things from the fridge and replacing them with new things from the cupboards. She sighed to herself, eyes swelling with more tears. She was a girl with flaws just like everyone else, that couldn't make Chris annoyed with her could it?
"Want something to drink?" The Boston accent slapped Lillian out her thoughts and back into reality. Her eyes fixed on Chris, who still wasn't facing her, moving around gracefully fixing his fridge in front of his baby cousin.
"What do you have?" Lillian's small and shy voice asked. Chris finally faced her, moving his head from side to side, probably thinking about something.
"Water, root bear, lemonade" Chris gave her a toothy smile, his hip against the counter-fingers tapping relentlessly across the smooth surface. Lillian chuckled softly, smiling smoothy and shyly pulling a stray hair behind her ear.
"Water sounds good" Lillian answered right after the strand of hair fell back in front of her. Chris already slid the water bottle towards Lillian, who caught it before it fell off the counter.
"Straw?" Chris asked already opening one. "Sure" Lillian took the straw Chris handed to her and nodded a "thank you", taking a sip of water.
Lillian's eyes went about searching the room, the glances of finely painted white walls, fine china and furniture felt her eyes.
Lillian wanted to feel comfortable before she asks the question she doesn't want but has to ask. "Do you hate me?" She have her hand on her face while stirring her straw around.
Chris was about to answer when a knock came to his door. Both whipped their heads that direction, wondering who the person was and why they were there.
Chris went to the door, his muscles flexing each step he took. Lillian sighed, taking two small sips of the cool water.
"Sebastian!" Lillian heard Chris exclaim, his voice dripping with happiness. Who was Sebastian anyway?