Lily's Playlist Pt. 09

Sammy and I met up to check out apartments. We ruled out her apartment complex in Arlington just because it was too far out for me. Dallas and Fort Worth are the major cities. A lot of smaller cities and suburbs comprise the rest of the Metroplex. Arlington is a city close to Fort Worth. Sammy and I both work in Dallas and I really don't want to be that far from my friends and family. Trevor and Cam both live in Plano, a city close to Dallas; Rocky's house is in North Dallas; and Ethan lives in Carrollton, a suburb of Dallas. We decided to look for apartments closer to Dallas instead.

We narrowed it down to the city of Addison. It was right in the middle of everyone. It's a cool city that has a little bit of everything. Upscale shopping and living, and a great night life scene; but it also has parks and beautiful residential communities. I think it was a perfect location for us, and thankfully, Sammy agreed.

The first apartments we looked at are luxurious apartments in Addison Circle. Most the festivals and events that happen in Addison take place in Addison Circle. The complex itself is surrounded by office spaces, small businesses, and shops. The amenities are out of this world. Renting the apartment comes with full access to 2 fitness centers, resort style pools, a private theater, and a game loft. It was expensive, but you definitely get what you pay for. The apartment itself was awesome. It had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and an upgraded kitchen. They have a waiting list but assured us they should have apartments available in October. The second one we ruled out. It's nice, but tiny. The one that was available only has 1.5 bathrooms. Neither one of us wants to compromise on that and there are no washer/dryer connections. That was not a problem for Sammy. She doesn't have a washer and dryer anyway, but I was used to being able to wash at home. I planned to buy a washer and a dryer for wherever we moved to.

The 3rd is a townhome located near a city park. For the same price of the first apartment, we get a two story apartment, both bedrooms on the top floor (with their own bathrooms!), with 2 living areas, a large patio, a fireplace and a two car garage; and full size washer/dryer connections! It doesn't have the same amenities as the first apartment, but it has a pool with a sun deck, tennis courts, and picnic and bbq areas. I was in love with it. I thought it was perfect. The only thing that gave me pause was the bedrooms being so close together. I remembered Rocky's comment about looking forward to hearing Sammy have sex. I guess that's what ear plugs are for.

Sammy likes the amenities and the location of the first one better. The leasing agent informs us that the townhome will be ready first thing in July and they have a tendency to rent fast. That sold it for Sammy. She doesn't want to wait until October. We go ahead and fill out an application.

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After that, I went home. I was surprised to see Brandon, Rocky and EJ playing outside. Apparently, Megan had an appointment, so Brandon was babysitting until Ethan came to pick him up. I went inside, changed my clothes, and joined them outside with a cut up watermelon. I set it on the patio table. EJ came running over and inhaled a piece before asking for another. After he devoured that one, he ran back to grab the football. We all watched him in amazement.

"If anyone ever questions his blackness because of his skin tone, just put a watermelon in front of him..." Brandon joked.

Rocky and I laughed. We all continued to play catch with the football. Brandon threw a long pass to EJ. He caught it and ran to the fence.

"All right! Touchdown!!!" We cheered for him.

"Oh yeah!!" EJ celebrated, throwing down the football and shaking his shoulders in a wild dance.

"That's right homie. Shake 'em off." Brandon laughed at him, joining in the dance.

"That's horrible!" Rocky laughed.

"Yeah, your touchdown dance needs work." I commented, smiling at them.

"Would you rather him dance to Shipoopi?"

I turned around to see Ethan at the gate entrance of the backyard. "OMG, did Ethan Carter just reference Family Guy?!?!" I exclaimed, in a valley girl accent. "I can totally die happy right now! Like, you learned something from me!" I grinned.

Ethan smiled as he entered the backyard with us. "What's Family Guy?" EJ asked.

"A show for grownups." Ethan answered him.

"What episode was that?" Brandon asked.

"When Peter joins the New England Patriots. He scores a touchdown, and they all dance to Shipoopi. Do the dance with me Rocky!" I said, excitedly.

"I will not."

"You will or I will call Trevor and we will upload the footage of you doing it." I threatened. In college, we watched the episode together. Then Rocky got drunk one night at a party and busted it out. Bilal put it on Facebook until Rocky sobered up and saw it. She threatened us all bodily harm if we didn't delete it.

"Good luck with that. I made sure to watch y'all delete it."

"You watched one copy of it being deleted...." I replied.

"I hate you." Rocky said, but she got up and did it with me. We were all laughing by the end of it.

We decided to have dinner together. Brandon left to go pick something up. Things were a little tense when Rocky said she wanted to go with Brandon. Brandon made a comment about not needing her help to bring home food. I was waiting for Rocky to snap back, but she just said, "Whatever" and went in the house and Brandon left.

Me and Ethan just looked at each other. What the fuck was that? EJ went inside to use the bathroom, leaving Ethan and I alone.

"It's good to see you. I feel like it's been forever." I said, when EJ went inside.

"I know. You've been keeping busy. How was your trip to Austin?" He asked.

I smiled, pleased that he was keeping up with what I was doing on social media, even though he didn't like or comment on my posts. "Yeah, it was good. Nice to kinda physically get away from everything. It put things in perspective."

"And what's your perspective?" Ethan asked me.

"Hmmmm, still working on that, but I did talk to my brother. We are working on our relationship."

Ethan nodded. "That's good to hear."

EJ then came back outside and ate more watermelon. He started talking to us about his birthday party coming up.

"We got the invitations yesterday. I invited the whole soccer team, even though I don't like Caleb and Miguel. I invited my friends from school."

"Am I going to get an invitation?" I asked him, smiling.

"Yes! You've never been to my birthday party before. It's going to be fun!" EJ promised.

"I've been to your party before, you don't remember?" I asked him. He looked at his dad for confirmation. In that moment, I instantly regretted that I even brought it up.

"Yes. Your 5th birthday. We had it at home. It was a Cars Party." Ethan said, looking at EJ only. I couldn't tell if it was because he doesn't want to remember that memory either.

"Oh yeah." EJ nodded his head.

"Do you know what you want for your birthday?" I asked, desperate for a subject change. He listed off games and toys he wants while Ethan watched me. I focused on EJ. I don't want him to know I'm thinking about that day. I didn't even want to think about it. Thankfully, Brandon returned with dinner. We went inside and managed to have a pleasant dinner together, despite the weirdness with Brandon and Rocky. And without me putting my foot in my mouth.

***Flashback of EJ's 5th birthday party***

2 years Prior

I spent 40 minutes looking in my mirror, trying to fix my hair and makeup. For me, that was 2 times as long as it normally took me. I wanted to look nice, but not like I was trying too hard. Megan was going to be at the party of course and I didn't want to look frumpy compared to her. EJ's grandparents were going to be there as well and it was going to be my first time actually meeting them. It will also be the first-time seeing Ethan after he confessed his feelings for me...

That thought made me put my make up away. I didn't want to encourage him. This was EJ's day: One of the last chances I have to hang out with him before I moved to California. I put my straightened hair back with a checkered headband and got dressed in black capris and a white fitted tee.

When I get to Ethan's house, I was 30 minutes early. I applied a cherry red lip gloss before I made my way to the house. I saw Brandon's car, so I knew I had at least one ally there. He was still trying to get Rocky to go out with him, so he had to be nice to me. EJ's grandmother opened the door. She is not many inches shorter than me, with few extra pounds on her frame, but she carries the extra weight well.

"Hi Mrs. Carter. I'm Lily. I don't know if you remember me-"

"Of course Lily! Even if I didn't, the way EJ talks about you, there's no way I wouldn't know who you are. Come on in!" She smiled friendly at me.

I stepped into the house. The living room is filled with black and white racing decorations, Lightning McQueen posters, and Cars themed balloons.

"My best friend Lily!" EJ exclaimed, running from the couch to me. His smile warms and breaks my heart at the same time.

How am I going to say goodbye to him?

"My best friend EJ! Happy birthday little man!" I said, pushing those thoughts away. I gave him a huge hug. He latched on to my neck, so I was forced to pick him up. I didn't mind, I held him tightly in my arms.

"You're 5 years old now- Getting too old to be picked up." Megan said to EJ, giving me a tight smile.

"Oh, it's his birthday. He should get whatever he wants." Mrs. Carter declared.

"I want to play outside." EJ complained.

"Let's go see if your daddy is done out there. The grill should be cooled down by now." Mrs. Carter said. I followed her out, carrying EJ.

Outside, there was a Cars jump house and orange cones with red balloons scattered throughout the backyard. There was a happy birthday banner and racing flags covering the fence. A battery operated Chevrolet Camaro ride-along car sat by the door with a red bow on it. Now I saw why EJ was so anxious to come outside- It was a 5 year old's dream.

"Hmph, great timing Lily. Get here when all the work is done." Brandon grinned at me from a patio chair.

I smiled. "Looks like you didn't need my help. It looks great out here." I said, putting EJ down. Mrs. Carter took him around the backyard to look at all the decorations.

Ethan nodded at me. He was securing the pegs on the bounce house. I waved back.

Okay. We can get through this.

"Coulda used your help with the food. Or at least setting it up so no one gets food poisoning. " Brandon complained.

I scoffed. "Whatever. I'm officially a doctor now. I don't need to know how to cook." I said, playfully.

"You Baylor girls like to throw your accomplishments around. Congratulations by the way."

I laughed. "Thanks. How is it going with Rocky? Can I congratulate you?" Out the corner of my eye I saw Ethan approach us. I watched him touch the grill.

"Still working on it, but soon." Brandon said, with a cocky grin.

"Good luck with that. You're gonna need it." I warned him.

"Stranger things have happened..." Brandon looked at me and Ethan, knowingly.

I blushed.

"Help me move the grill to the garage." Ethan told Brandon, ignoring his comment.

"Lily! You're flushed. C'mon inside and get a drink before you dehydrate!" Mrs. Carter commanded, leading me to the kitchen.

Once the party got started, there were no more awkward moments with Ethan. Mostly because Brandon was on his best behavior and I spent most of my time with EJ and the other kids. They had a blast, jumping in the bounce house and taking turns driving EJ's new car.

Everyone gathered inside to sing happy birthday and cut the cake. After that, EJ opened his presents. Nothing compared to the race car he already got from his parents, but he still got excited over every new toy. I got him a V-Tech digital camera. As his friends began to leave, I could tell EJ was starting to tire out. He sat beside his mom on the couch, leaning against her, fighting to keep his eyes open.

"Come on babe. Let's get ready for bed." Megan told him.

"Can I have a minute with him before you do that?" I asked her. It was now or never: I had to say goodbye. Megan nodded and went to the kitchen. I sat down next to him.

"EJ, you know why I bought you a camera?" When he shook his head, I continued. "I'm moving away. I won't be able to see you all the time, so I need you to take a ton of pictures so I can see how you're doing."

"Where are you going? Are you coming back?" He asked, looking up at me.

"I'm moving to California for my job. You have to ride an airplane to get there. I will come visit you, just not as much as I want to."

"Do you have to go? Who's going to watch me?" He whined. Tears welled up in my eyes.

"Uncle Brandon will. He already said he'll show you how to send me pictures on the computer. And I'll send you any cool toys I find in California, okay?" I promised him.

He nodded. "Ok."

"Alright. Goodnight best friend EJ. I love you."

"Love you, best friend Lily." He said with a yawn.

I hugged him, picking him up. I gave him a kiss on the cheek before I turned my head, looking for Megan.

"I got him." I looked up to see Ethan. He gave me a small, knowing smile, letting me know he heard our conversation. I handed EJ over, hiding my face. I couldn't take how he was looking at me. I don't want him to see the tears in my eyes. When Ethan took him to his room, I hurried to the hallway bathroom, but someone was in it. I decided to just leave and get far enough away to cry in my car, when Mrs. Carter stopped me.

"Use the bathroom in the bedroom." She said to me, softly.

I nodded. I knew it was Ethan's room. As awkward as it was to be in there, I was sure being a blubbering mess at a kid's birthday party was worst. I went into his room and into his private bath. I let the tears fall silently. I quickly splash cold water on my face, ruining the little make-up I had on. 5 minutes later, I got myself together enough to say goodbye to everyone.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Ethan was standing in the bedroom, waiting for me.

"Your mom sent me in here." I blurted out.

Great, blame his mom.

"She told me." He said. I nodded and tried to get past him to leave the room, but he stopped me, calling my name.

"Lily-" he grabbed my hand.

"Ethan-"

The next thing I knew, we were kissing. I didn't even know who kissed who. The only thing I knew was that it had been so long and he felt so right. There were so many reasons why it was wrong: The birthday party. His mom. EJ. Megan. All valid reasons to why we shouldn't be doing this here or right now.

"Ethan. We can't." I said, breathlessly, moving my lips away. He just kissed my face instead. His lips on mine and his arms holding me close almost made me forget I was moving back to California. Almost. "I'm still moving. Nothing has changed." I gave him the reason why we shouldn't be doing this at all.

He stilled, and I thought I got to him. Then, he continued, rubbing his hands over my ass and crushing his lips into mine again. "I know." He breathed against my lips. "We didn't know last time was the last time. Just one more time. For fun."

I stiffened at his last word, but he kissed my neck. He knew that was my spot. Sparks ignited all over my body as he kissed me there and I clenched between my legs and moaned. He took that as my consent because he led me to the bed. Instead of laying me on it, he leaned me against it, so I propped myself on my hands at the end of the raised bed.

I gave him a questioning look over my shoulder, but he just tugged down my capris and panties.

"Arch your back for me baby." He said, huskily.

I did, and he groaned as he grabbed my hips. After a moment, I felt him rubbing against me before he pushed himself deep inside of me. We both moaned when he was all the way in. He rocked into me slowly, his hand sliding around my waist to reach between my thighs. He found and rubbed my clitoris in lazy circles. I bit my lip to stifle my groans and pushed back into him, wanting, needing him to give me more. He didn't. He kept up the excruciatingly slow pace, edging me closer and closer to orgasm, just to stop, pull me up against his chest to kiss me, before he started all over again. I was close to tears of frustration as he kissed, touched and grinded into me the way I loved, only to stop and drive me crazy. It felt like forever until he finally brought me over the edge, erupting inside of me at the same time.

Afterwards, he drew me close and held me against him. He kissed my shoulder, again and again, just like he did in the kitchen on the day we decided to be friends with benefits.

"I'll explain it to him. You don't have to keep in touch. I promise, he won't feel like you left him. He'll get used to you not being around anymore." He said, letting me go. "Have a safe trip. Good luck with everything." He backed away from me. Without another word, he left the room.

I spent several minutes trying to comprehend what happened, then what he said hit me. Hard. I got dressed and left the room. I couldn't stand saying goodbye to anyone else. So I left, letting the tears fall freely as I raced to my car and drove away.

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*Present*

Thursday, I finally met my brother Cam at his work for lunch. After checking in at the reception desk, I made my way to Cam's office. I knocked, before opening the door. I texted him from the car that I was coming in, but there's another guy in his office with him.

"Hey beautiful." Cam said to me.

I waved and smiled politely at them both, a little thrown off by the greeting. Maybe being grossly affectionate was something he picked up in therapy or his girlfriend. Or both. The other guy looked me over, before excusing himself.

"Have a seat. Give me 5 minutes." He said, apologetically.

"Take your time." I said, continuing to stand. "In fact, should I go get Trevor?"

"Nope, Craig's most likely taking care of that right now." Cam smiled, mischievously.

"Craig?" I asked, sitting down. Before he could answer, the door opened again. It was Trevor, as well as the guy from before.

Trevor's eyes widened at the sight of me, then he turned to the guy. "Craig, not a hot date! That's his sister!

"Oh, my bad. He said he had a lunch date. I didn't know his sister looks like that." Craig exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"Yeah, this is my lunch date: My sister Lily. What do you mean 'looks like that'?" Cam asked, standing, putting poor Craig on the spot. I hid back my grin.

When he turned red, Trevor started laughing. I couldn't help but join in. Cam smiled at us.

"Nothing! I have work to do. Enjoy your lunch." Craig said, flustered, before exiting the room.

"That was mean." I said, shaking my head, but still smiling.

"That's what he gets. I'll be right back." Cam said, leaving too.

"So... y'all finally made up? That's why he was busy Saturday?" Trevor asked me.

"Yep. Thank you for making that happen. I can't even be mad at you for keeping me in the dark about what was going on with Cam."

"Hey, I tried. I came to California to try to knock some sense into you. Not my fault you didn't listen." he shrugged, sitting on the arm of the chair next to me.

"I would have listened if you would have told me Cam was going Incredible Hulk at his job!" I exclaimed.

Trevor laughed. "That was so funny. Not Cam losing it, but him telling of this slacker Josh? Hilarious."

Cam rejoined us in the office. "Ready when you two are."

"Just a second. I wanna tell her about Josh. " Trevor said.

Cam shook his head. "Please don't."

"He had it coming." Trevor continued, ignoring Cam. "He was a supervisor who couldn't be bother to do his job or learn ours. We couldn't finish a project due to him making promise and deadlines that didn't even make sense, so he told William it was due to bad time management. Cam exploded at him. It was everything everyone was thinking and thought about him, but Cam had been gathering proof of it for months. He threw it in all in his face and told him he couldn't manage his head out of his ass, much less a team." Trevor laughed.