c h a p t e r • 45

-"Don't leave me hanging, now."-

Lili's POV

"Where are my heels?! Ugh!" Nat says, searching for her bag.

We were getting ready for homecoming and we're running late so we're rushing.

I was already dressed in my dress which is black like my soul.

My hair is in a half ponytail with some of my front hair framing my face.

We already got our make up and hair done earlier and now we're just doing the finishing touches.

"Okay, I think we're ready." I say, steadying my breathing as we checked out ourselves in the mirror.

Sam and Nat nods in approval. (A/n: I swear that was unintentional and I never realised until now.)

"Okay, then. Let's go. The boys have been waiting for a while now." Nat says.

"I'll go first, then you guys can decide who comes down last." I say.

I was really excited to meet Ryder and decided to skip the whole last to walk down the stairs clichè shit.

They all nod yes and I wave at them before making my way downstairs.

I stood at the top of the pretty stairs and saw Ryder waiting but he didn't notice my presence.

I roll my eyes and cleared my throat:

He averted his attention to me making me smile in satisfaction.

I bit my lip to avoid grinning like a maniac and walked down the stairs carefully.

I reach the bottom of the stairs as Ryder came and took my hand in his.

I smiled breathlessly as he looked down at me in adoration.

We stared at each other before someone interrupted us.

We looked and my parents. My mom, grinning and my dad refusing a smile which he tried to look intimidating.

"My baby is so grown up." She says reaching out to hug me.

"Mom." I whined.

"Let me take a picture of you two." She says taking out her phone and taking pictures of us.

The other two hoes came down gracefully and went to their dates.

After taking a hell ton of pictures, we left with a limo.

When we arrived, everyone was already here proving how late we were.

Atleast I get to say we're fashionably late.

-•-

Ryder and I watched the couples slow dance to the music which was a little more...relaxing than before. Needless to say, the DJ is a real party man.

"Let's get out of here." I say, feeling a little suffocated.

He nods as we made it to the hallway, the music dimming a little.

We went up to the roof and sat on the edge.

The music could be heard from up here, too.

Ryder stands up and holds out his hand.

"Don't leave me hanging, now." He says, fighting a grin.

I took his hand with a grin of my own and as he spun me around, I squealed a little.

I put my arms around his waist as he did with mind.

He rests his head on mine and I rest mine on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"You look beautiful as ever. Though, I can debate that you look better when you're relaxed with me in bed." He smirks.

I hit his chest with a ghost of smile on lips.

"You look ravishingly beautiful, too. In a guy way." I grinned.

He kisses my forehead.

"It was pretty boring down there wasn't it?" I say.

It was nothing like I expected.

"Very. I'm having a better time with you here." He says, the grins never leaving our faces.

I didn't need to stand on my tip toes to kiss him since I was wearing heels so just tilted my head to connect my lips with his.

His hand cups my jaw and my finger traced his.

He pushed me to the wall softly as he peppered adorable kisses down my neck.

"I'll never get tired of this." I say, breathlessly.

He grips my waist tighter and pushed himself on me.

My phone ringing cut us off making him jump back and run a hand through his hair.

I sighed and picked up my phone.

My dad is calling me.

"Hey dad, what's wrong?" I ask getting a weird feeling.

"Honey...please get your brother and...come to the hospital." He says, sounding defeated and upset. I could hear mom crying in the background.

"What happened, dad?" I ask, worry settling in my stomach.

"Just...you'll see." He says, hanging up.

"What's wrong?" Ryder asks, seeing my worried expression.

"I...I don't know but mom was crying and dad asked me and Kyle to go to the hospital." I say, staring at the ground.

"We need to go then." Ryder says but I stayed at my spot, negative thoughts filled up my head.

"Lili, if you want to know what happened, we need to go." He says, tugging on my hand.

I nod, breathless.

"Of course." I say, shaking my head as we made our way back to the hall.

"Kyle!" Ryder shouts over the music.

Kyle who was dancing with Sam, looked at us.

He glanced at me and sees my lost expression before making his way towards us with Sam.

"What's wrong?" He asks.

"I don't know but dad is asking us to go to the hospital." I say, loudly.

"Why?" He questions.

"Let's just go, can we?" I ask and he nods.

The four of us went in the limo and started going to the hospital.

My leg bounced nervously and I chewed on my lip the whole ride there.

"Ryder, I'm scared." I say, holding him back when we wanted to leave the car.

"It's okay. Don't worry, I'm here not matter what happens remember?" He says and I nod.

"But I don't want to know what happened. I mean, mom was crying and dad sounded so...so...defeated." I say, fearing the worst.

"You're gonna have to find out sooner or later, Shortcake." He says, gripping my hand. "Like you said, time waits for no one."

I smiled at his memory of yesterday.

"You're right. Let's go face the truth." I say as we leave the car, shutting it.

I held his hand tightly to which he rubbed his thumb in mine.

When we arrived, Kyle was on the ground, kneeling as he clutched his head.

Mom was still crying and dad just sat there looking dead.

"What happened?" Mom and dad looked at me.

"No! No! He can't be..." Kyle shouts.

My heart started beating faster.

"Mom? Dad?" I looked at them.

"Baby." My dad says, pulling me to him. "There was a fire at home...Oggy he...we didn't know he was...he was trapped in the pantry."

Tears started brimming in my eyes as I thought about what must've happened.

"He didn't survive." Mom says, her voice cracking.

"No...no! That's not true!" I yelled.

"Oggy! Oggy!!" I shouted as I ran into the room.

On the bed there was a white cloth over a body.

"No...no! No no no no no! It can't be! This is a nightmare!" I exclaimed as tears fell down my cheeks.

My mom hugged me tightly.

"Mommy...he...he was still a kid." I cried. "He didn't deserve this."

"He's in a better place now, baby." She hushes.

"He was all alone! He must've been so scared!" I cried out.

My mom sobbed harder.

"I...I'm sorry, mom. It's okay, I..." I swallowed, hugging her and patting her back.

Kyle and dad walked in and we all hugged, silently crying for the loss of our star in the family.

I can't do this anymore.

-•-

A/n: this is the last chapter. After this is the epilogue and the rest I'll explain in the epilogue.

Love you guys!😭❤️