Lilac's Lies

17

"What? Why?" I asked Clara, stepping away from Roman. I noticed the way he peered down at me as I did, the grin that was on his face just a second ago melting away.

"I have a guess." Roman muttered, locking eyes with Samuel, who seemed to nod his head in silent confirmation.

Clara bit down on her lip, looking down to her phone in her hands. "Well..."

"Clara, don't tell me you did something stupid." I sighed out in defeat, now understanding where this was going.

"I forgot that Brett made me unblock him! I didn't think he could see it." Clara raised her hands up in defence.

"See what?" I asked her, feeling my heart begin to race. If she posted a picture of her and Samuel, we were done for.

"Nothing! I just posted a picture of my outfit." She rushed out.

I raised my eyebrow at her, urging her to continue. I knew there was more.

"... in the mirror of the bathroom here." Clara said quietly, rolling her lips together.

"And then?" I asked her, wishing she would just rip the bandaid off.

"Brett blew up my phone, and I guess when I didn't answer him, he checked my location. He made me share it with him the other day." Clara finally told me the real reason why we needed to leave, and boy... did we really need to leave.

"They're on the way, aren't they?" I asked, flicking my eyes towards the ceiling in defeat.

"So?" Roman interrupted our conversation. "Let them come."

I moved my eyes towards him, noticing the way he was staring at me. His jaw was tensed again, and his eyes looked similar to the way they did right before he knocked his opponent out.

"No." I said quickly. "We're leaving."

I walked towards Clara, and my intention was the grab her hand and pull her the hell out of this place if need be, but she shook her head at me instead.

"Lilly, I didn't get the message until 10 minutes after he sent it... I was, um, busy." Clara said, with a sideways look towards Samuel.

"Which means they're either here, or almost here." I muttered, finally realizing the true extent of our predicament. If we tried to leave now, we would almost certainly run into them in the parking lot.

"Come with us." Roman said firmly, causing me to look back towards him. He was watching me with narrowed eyes.

"No." I said immediately. "That certainly won't help."

"My car is parked out back." Samuel said, and he pointed to one of the doors in the room. "We can leave through this door right here."

"It's the best option, Lilly." Clara said softly, probably because she knew how aggravated I was at her in this moment.

"In what world is that the best option?" I asked her, my tone sharp. "What are you going to say when Brett asks you why you spent the night with him?" I pointed my eyes towards Samuel. "And what am I supposed to say to Jesse?"

"You could tell him the truth." Roman said smugly.

"And what truth is that?" I said as I whipped my head towards him.

"That you ditched them for us." Roman told me, looking into my eyes.

I let a breath out of my nose as I looked at him. If he understood the severity of the situation, he wouldn't be suggesting this. Neither would Clara, if she knew just how pissed Jesse would be at me.

"Whatever you guys do, you need to make a decision soon." Samuel said, shoving his hands in his pockets at he looked between Clara and I.

"Or, we could stand here and wait for them. How I would love to hit that guy." Roman mused out, a smirk forming on his face. I shot a dirty look at him, which he completely ignored.

"CLARA!"

Clara and I both heard Brett's voice at the same time, and it caused both of our bodies to go rigid. She looked at me with startled eyes, and we both knew the same thing. Brett, no doubt with Jesse right beside him, were only one thin wall away from us. If they came through that door, they'd see us standing with two guys that weren't them. Two guys that they've already gotten into it with.

"Lilly, let's go." Clara whispered to me, taking my hand into hers. "Please."

I nodded, finally accepting defeat. Clara let go of my hand as Samuel grabbed hers and led her towards the door. I didn't hesitate in following her, the only thing less appealing than Brett and Jesse finding me and Clara here, was Brett and Jesse finding me here alone.

I trailed behind the two of them, noticing that Roman didn't immediately follow. I didn't need to look back towards him to know what he was doing. He was waiting to see if Jesse and Brett would find us. Or rather, he was hoping. By the time the three of us had reached the door leading to the back parking lot, I heard his heavy footsteps jogging to catch up to us.

Samuel led us to the same white car I had seen the other night outside the restaurant, answering my never asked question about who the car belonged to. He opened the passenger door for Clara, who smiled flirtatiously back at him as she climbed into the car. I shook my head at the sky before opening the back door and climbing into the rear seat. I would never understand how Clara could clear out every emotion to make way for flirting.

I glanced around the car I was in, smelling the new car smell that was radiating from the leather seats. I shouldn't be surprised by fancy cars anymore, after all, all of my friends own one. Yet, they never failed to make me feel a slight tinge of jealousy.

I pressed myself into the door on my side as Roman climbed into the seat beside me. I almost giggled at the sight of him, he looked way too big to be crunched into the backseat of this sedan. He had to awkwardly bend his legs so they weren't pressed into the seat in front of him. When he noticed me looking at him, he grinned again. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but I sharply turned my head towards the window instead. I guess he received my hint that I didn't want to talk loud and clear, because he didn't say anything.

As Samuel pulled the car away, he and Clara began talking. I couldn't hear their hushed voices from the backseat, so I looked out of the window instead. I closed my eyes as I realized the predicament that we were in. Even though the boys didn't catch us red handed, I had no idea how we were going to lie our way out of this one.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket at the thought of Jesse, knowing that it had been on silent all night. I knew what I was going to find once I pressed the button, turning the screen on. I knew what I was going to see, but my stomach still turned as I took it in. The whole screen was filled with missed calls and texts from Jesse, even a couple from Brett.

"Here." Roman's voice startled me. His hand reached out and took the phone from my grasp before I could say anything.

"Hey!" I hissed at him, watching as he looked down at it. "What are you doing?"

His lips fell into a scowl as he took sight of the numbers of times Jesse had called. He shook his head at it, as if he didn't understand it.

"Don't worry about him." Roman said quietly, powering off my phone. He held it out for me to grab, and I quickly snatched it from him.

He must have watched my finger dance on the button, debating whether I should turn it back on and read the texts Jesse had sent. "Don't. There's nothing you can say to him right now that will help."

I paused in my movements, eventually nodding and putting the phone back in my pocket. He was right, after all. There was nothing I could do about it now. Except pray that the bruises Jesse leaves will be easily covered.

"Why don't you just leave him?" Roman asked me, and I looked back towards him. His blue eyes were so focused on me, and I don't know why they made me so nervous to be their focus.

"Who says I want to?" I lied to him, hating the words as they came out of my mouth.

"I do." Roman's voice was so low, I could feel it in my stomach.