D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad

This chapter is from Lily’s perspective

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While Kat was off at Arbitration Lily was just waking up. Her hair was even more of a mess then usual and her glasses were pressed into her face. The book she had been reading before bed was just out of reach and the light in the room had been left on. For Lily, all of these things were fairly regular occurrences and while she knew the light really should have been turned off, was relatively unconcerned about the rest of things.

She took up that book and found she didn’t really remember what was happening in the page she had managed to slip a book mark into and had to turn back a page to jog her memory. *Should I head over to see Kat now? No just because you’re dating doesn’t mean you need to see her every day… I do want to though. Hmmm… that would require getting out of bed though and Kat didn’t even had the decency to be here to wake me up so I’m going to read for a bit.* 

And so that’s what Lily did, she read for a time until the call of the bathroom was too strong. She dragged herself out of bed and fixed her glasses up slightly before turning off the now unneeded light and headed for the bathroom to relieve herself. She was heading back to her room to keep reading when her mother called out, ”Lily, I can hear you up. Come and get some breakfast instead of forgetting again”

Lily glanced at the door to her room and felt the strong temptation to just ignore her mother but practicality and the knowledge she was right about the food had her turn around and head for the kitchen. Her mother was sipping on a cup of coffee while reading the news on her tablet. Lily walked passed her to the cereal cupboard and grabbed herself out a box.

A bit of milk, a glass, and a bowl later she was sitting across from Evaline and eating cereal while letting her mind wander. *What is Mum doing here? Normally she’d be off doing something else somewhere in the house. Sure it isn’t too strange for her to read the news on her tablet but normally she wouldn’t do it at the kitchen table.* 

A few more spoonsful of cereal later and she had her answer when Evaline asks, ”Well?”

”Well what?” asked Lily confused, ”You’re the one being weird…”

Evaline let out a long sigh. ”Lily, I may not approve of your choice in friends, and while I might be willing to be a bit nicer to her because of your father and you, that doesn’t mean I’ve ever stopped caring about you or noticing things. Is there something you’d like to talk about?”

Lily froze at the question. *Oh. Shit. It’s been a long time since Mum used this tone of voice. What has she noticed? What changed recently that she would… or right duh Lily she clearly she noticed that something changed when you started dating Kat! Shit how could I miss this. I should’ve known Mum would pick up on that.* 

*What do I tell her though? I… I’m not ashamed of dating Kat and I know Mum doesn’t care I’m a lesbian… but should I really tell her the truth? Last time she saw Kat with demon parts and all and while she might have just shoved that to the side and ignored it… I bet she’d be thinking about it if I tell her the truth. Still… I guess I have an angle… might throw her off? Maybe? I can hope?*

”You’re being awfully quiet” said Evaline seeing her daughter freeze. ”I’m not going to force you on this but I would like to know.” The words were pointed, and Lily could hear the ’I won’t force you but I will look disappointedly at you if you hide it’ message in the words.

”Well I suppose you’ll be happy to know I’m not friends with Kat anymore” said Lily with a smirk.

She was actually a little surprised when she saw Evaline freeze for a few moments before frowning. There was real sadness in her eyes when Lily said that and now the younger girl had to fight off the stab of pain in her heart.

*Why do I feel like the bad guy now? Don’t just look at me like that Mum SAY SOMETHING so I can finish the joke. Please... I… maybe this was too mean. It isn’t as bad as harassing me about my best friend for years but why does this hurt so much to see.*

”Oh.” Said Evaline distantly. ”I’m sorry”

”Why are you sorry?” Lily said trying to make it sound snappy and sharp but it mostly just came out as sad and soft.

”Well… I… Um…” Evaline stumbled over the words before breathing in deeply, ”Look. Lily I… I’ll admit I’ve been harsh on Kat and you about Kat but… I… I feel like I’ve made a mistake now. She was your only friend and… and now I can’t help but feel it’s my fault you’re alone again”

*SHIT ABORT. ABORT.* ”MUM!” shouted Lily dragging Evaline’s gaze back to the present. ”It… sorry. Um… I mean I’m sorry. Er, that is… um… this was a bad joke. Um… it’s true though. Um… Kat she uh… isn’t my friend anymore but not because we fought or um anything… but she’s now…” Lily started to mumble ”she’snowmygirlfriend”

”Oh” said Evaline trying to deal with the emotional whiplash she was experiencing. She was still a bit upset but there was much less self-hatred and much more confusion now. ”How did that happen?” asked Evaline without really thinking just to have something to say.

Lily felt herself choke on whatever answer she might have had to that question. *What is this conversation? How can you just ask something like that Mum? What am I even supposed to tell you? Actually Mum, you’ll be telling me.* ”How am I even supposed to answer that Mum?” asked Lily half desperately.

Evaline shrugged as if that would displace some of the uncomfortable emotions in her chest. ”Well… I suppose who confessed? How did things go afterward? Is there anything I should no dear?” asked Evaline in an almost pleading voice.

Lily let out a long breath to steady herself. ”Well… oh I’m so embarrassed thinking about it. I really shouldn’t have done it the way I did but it worked out I suppose…”

”Lily, just calm down. We have time and I’m not going to judge. It’s not like you just kissed her randomly, is it?” said Evaline with concern

Lily went bright red and looked away from the concerned gaze of her mother. ”Lily you didn’t?” said Evaline shocked. This shock was compounded when she looked further away and the blush deepened. ”It was WORSE?! Lily how could you have done anything worse?” 

Lily’s eyes strained away from Evaline as her head couldn’t move any further. ”You broke down crying didn’t you?” said Evaline knowing her daughter well enough to start to guess the series of events. ”Oh no… You were too embarrassed to tell her you were in love with her. After trying multiple times you used what courage you could to tell her you loved her, she probably returned with something involving friendship before you kissed her and then tried to run away crying.” 

The slow nod was all Evaline got from Lily. Seeing this Evaline let out a long sigh. ”Ok, well clearly it all worked out then right? What else happened?” 

Lily managed to drag herself back so that she was facing her mother again. Her blush had died down a fair bit but it was still there. ”Well… I… I told her about Stella, then I told her what she meant to me, and then she told me a few things and then we ended up together.” 

”Wait you’d never told her about Stella before?” asked Evaline shocked. 

Lily gave a confused glance at her mother. ”How was I supposed to do that Mum? The whole issue at my last school happened because I was gay. I couldn’t just tell Kat that straight away until I knew she’d be ok with it. Then I got a crush on her and it would have been basically as good as a confession to tell her about my redheaded childhood friend I fell in love with. What else was I supposed to do?” 

Evaline nodded, ”Well, seeing as it was part of your confession, I suppose I have to agree with you.” Evaline took a deep breath after those words before continuing. ”Now, I want you to know that I’m happy for you… but I also want you to know I’m still worried. Are you sure Kat isn’t taking advantage of you? I know you’ve been practically joined at the hip before you both started dating, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t before or she won’t start now that you are.” 

*Oh god. I don’t know if this is better or worse then before when she simply disliked Kat? How do I tell her I not only know Kat wouldn’t betray me but that she can’t lie about it and gave me a way to learn magic? This really isn’t something that should be part of this conversation… shit.. How do I answer this without sounding like a completely lovestruck idiot and answering with ’I just know’ or ’I trust her’ or ’She’d never do that to me’ which while all true pale in the face of what I do know.*