Lily's Playlist Pt. 21

"So is Corey still willing to go on a blind date?" I asked Jordan as we ate lunch together. We both had salads from Starbucks.

Jordan shook her head. "What's going on between you and Jake?"

"Nothing! We're great. I meant for my roommate Sammy." I replied.

I knew it was a stretch, but Sammy needed to meet a nice normal guy and if he was like Jordan described, he might be perfect for her to dive back into the dating pool. And I meant dating, not hooking up with scumbags. Jake included, but he's my scumbag now.

"He's not going to let me set him up again. It went so well with you."

"We don't have to set them up. They could just meet while we're out together. Soon-ish." I explained.

Jordan smiled. "Ok. We can do that. Let me see when he is available."

After work, I went home to an empty apartment and started to cook dinner. I was boiling water to make fried rice and checking my Facebook. I thumbed through all my friends posting pictures of their kids going back to school. Megan tagged Ethan in a picture of EJ standing outside his classroom in his school uniform. He was wearing a bored expression on his face. I smiled and texted Ethan.

Me- EJ looked thrilled to be back at school on Megan's Facebook picture.

Ethan- Give me 30 minutes. I'll post a better one.

True to his word, as I fried some eggs to add to the rice, Ethan posted more pictures. He tagged me in the caption.

I scrolled through the pictures. EJ's pictures were much better at home. He was grinning and making silly faces throughout the course of him getting ready for school. He also posted pictures of our day at the splash park and McDonald's. There was an adorable picture of Krista, April, and Robbie sitting underneath the plastic blue wave. It was too cute!

I commented on the picture.

Me- Awww, much better. Three-day weekend coming up with Labor day. Let's make it happen!

I finished cooking and put my phone away. I was eating when Sammy came home. She was loaded down with shopping bags.

"Ooo retail therapy?" I said, grinning at her.

She smiled. "More like I got my first check from Honey B's."

"Even better. We should go out and celebrate soon." I said, thinking of Corey.

"Umm, it would have to be Thursday. I have gigs every day this weekend."

"Really?" I said surprised.

"Really! I told you I just needed a few events. They love me. I'll make my rent money through tips alone!" Sammy predicted.

Afterward, she modeled all her clothes and shoes. I wanted to point out she had her rent money in her purchases, but I bit my tongue. Everyone grieved differently. Besides, operation nice guy was about to be in full effect.

"So, remember that guy Jordan was trying to set me up with?" I asked when she put her clothes away and sat down to eat with me. When she nodded, I continued. "I think you should talk to him."

Sammy cocked an eyebrow at me. "Don't you think we've shared enough guys?"

I laughed. "Corey and I didn't even meet in person. Even if we did, you have my blessing."

"I don't know. I kinda met someone this weekend. Waiting on a callback." Sammy debated.

"Well have a drink with us while you wait." I said, getting up to put my plate away.

"Let me see his picture again!" Sammy called to me.

I retrieved my phone. I saw I had a new text from Jake.

Jake- I didn't know you and Ethan went to the splash park together.

Me- Yep. He helped me out with the kids. Will didn't trust me on my own. I told you he was an ass 🙄

Jake- I would have helped you.

Me- I know babe. I just invited him, thinking he had EJ. He switched weekends with Megan.

"Do you have that picture up?" Sammy asked.

"Yeah." I said, closing out my messages. I pulled up Corey's Instagram and I showed Sammy.

"He seems nice and chill. I think a change of pace will be good for you." I explained.

"What the hell. Set it up!" Sammy agreed, flipping through the pictures. My phone beeped, indicating a text.

"Next time, let me know. I don't wanna find out you're hanging with other dudes on Facebook. I need to talk to you before you make Labor Day plans." Sammy read my text from Jake out loud. She gave me an odd look. "You're hanging out with other guys?"

"No." I sighed. "I hung out with Ethan and Amber's kids at the splash park Saturday."

"Sounds real intimate." Sammy scoffed, handing me my phone.

"Exactly!" I shook my head, trying to figure out how to respond.

"How's that control thing going?" Sammy asked.

I glared at her.

She laughed. "Don't get mad at me. I told you what to do. You caved."

Whatever. I texted Jake back.

Me- Yes Daddy. I hung out with Trevor and my brother yesterday. A bunch of dudes at my job today and I'm plotting a threesome with Ben and Jerry right now.

Jake- Sounds sexy. Send pics

I smiled at his text

"Y'all good?" Sammy asked.

"Yep. Can you take a picture of me real quick?" I asked, pulling the container of Ben and Jerry's half-baked ice cream from the freezer.

"Sure." She said, taking my phone from me. She gave me a weird face as I posed, first licking the container and then sucking on a spoon.

"Please put your name on that so I remember not to eat any." She said, giving the phone back to me and heading upstairs.

"Ha, you think I'm not finishing it?" I called after her, texting Jake the photos.

Me: They both love my tongue skills

Jake: I'm both turned on and disgusted Cariño.

I giggled and texted Jordan before digging into my Ice Cream.

Me- Thursday. Drinks. Let's make it happen!

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The next day, Jake texted me the address to a location in Addison. We were going to meet there for a date. I grinned when I saw it was a bowling alley. Jake was taking the whole list thing too seriously, but it had been forever since I went bowling, so I was enthusiastic.

When I arrived before Jake, I went ahead and got us a lane and my bowling shoes. I paid for Jake's, even though I had no idea what size shoe he wore. I sat down, changed shoes, and was picking out my ball when Jake showed up. He surprised me by not even announcing himself- he just wrapped his arms around me from behind.

"I was three seconds from pulling out my Sai on you." I joked, cuddling in his embrace.

"A Sai? Do you think you're a ninja? Like Donatello from the ninja turtles."

"I've always been a ninja. Mortal Kombat remember? And Donatello had a bo staff. Raphael had the sais." I corrected him.

Jake laughed in my hair. "You're such a nerd."

I turned around to let him have it about calling me a nerd, but he kissed my rantings off my lips.

"Go get your shoes. We'll see who the nerd is after I kick your ass in bowling." I demanded.

"Being good at bowling makes you a bigger nerd though." he grinned.

I mockingly huffed and pushed him away. After he got his shoes and picked out his ball, we set up to play. I ordered food and beer while he set up our names on the screen. He put my name followed by 'da nerd' and his name followed by 'da winner'. He laughed when I threatened to kill him.

Our first 5 frames were abysmal. I giggled when he complained about the lanes being too dry so he couldn't get a good spin.

"But I'm the nerd?" I said while munching on a mozzarella stick.

"Yes." Jake replied, grinning.

"Would a nerd do this?" I asked, dancing to the pop music that played on the big monitors above the lanes. I danced as I retrieved my ball and walked to our lane. I rolled it down, posing at the end. It went straight into the gutter.

"No Cariño, that wasn't nerdy. Only a crazy person would do that." He laughed as I sat down next to him.

"Shut. Up." I replied, laughing too, as I kissed his dimple.

He held my face close and gave me a thorough kiss on the lips.

We finished up after we decided no one won because we both were so awful. I went to the bathroom after we returned our shoes. When I came back, Jake was on his phone.

"Check your Facebook." He said, softly.

I sighed. Fuck Facebook. Fuck my life right now. We were having such a great time. I thought we were over his Facebook disapproval of me hanging out with other guys. I know I just joked it away but I thought he got my use of sarcasm to point out the fact that I didn't need to reason or explain who I hung out with. He is not my dad.

"Jake, I don't know if this is only about Ethan or being jealous or whatever, but I'm going to do what I want and hang out with whoever I want. I mean, technically, you're not even my boyfriend. You don't get to dictate who I hang out with." I said, frustrated.

Jake frowned at me, but I just folded my arms and stared right back at him.

"Are you going to check it or not?" Jake said, impatiently.

I pulled out my phone and went to my Facebook notifications. Jake tagged me in a photo of a note that read "Will you be my girlfriend? yes or no". He captioned it:

My face broke out in a smile. I felt like an idiot for going on a tirade, but I was the happiest idiot in the world. I jumped into his lap.

"Yes! Yes! A million times yes!" I proclaimed, smothering kisses all over his face

"Are you sure this is what you want to do? Technically, I would be your boyfriend and I don't want to dictate things to you." He asked me between kisses.

I pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Yes I'm sure! Quiero que seas mío {I want you to be mine}" I repeated what he told me, in Spanish, after our first friendly hangout and before we made love for the first time.

"Soy tuyo y tú eres mía. {I am yours and you are mine.}" He caressed my back with his fingers.

"Soy tuya y tú eres mío." I reiterated, giving him a lingering kiss on the lips.

"Prove it." He grinned against my lips.

"How?-OOOWWW!" I exclaimed, loudly as he picked me up. I giggled uncontrollably like a schoolgirl as he carried me out of the bowling alley. I knew we looked ridiculous, but I was too ecstatic to care. I gladly let him take me home to prove how I was his, and he was mine.

-------------------------------------------------

"Stay." Jake commanded in my ear the next morning as I attempted to get up from his bed.

I chuckled, breathlessly. "I have to be at work in an hour."

"Call in."

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" He asked, rolling me over so I was flat on my back.

"Both." I replied.

"Give me 10 minutes, I bet I can change your mind." He challenged me, as he moved kisses down my neck.

It hadn't even been 30 seconds, and I was already convinced to stay home with him. That was a disadvantage of having a hot, sexually skillful boyfriend- I couldn't say no to him. I smiled, giddy at the thought of Jake being my boyfriend. We spent the whole night consummating our new relationship, but it was still crazy for me to believe.

His convincing me abruptly stopped when his phone rang out an annoying ringtone I recognized as his job. He frowned and pulled away to retrieve his phone. From half the conversation, I knew he wasn't going to be able to call in. I was both relieved and disappointed. Relieved, because even though I have gotten praise from my boss Derek, it wasn't too long ago when he told me I needed to be more focused at work. Calling in an hour before I was supposed to be there would not help me redeem myself. Disappointed because again, my boyfriend was hot and sexually skillful. When he got off the phone, he told me that one of his guards called off so not only could he not skip work, but he would need to find a replacement or work late. We both got ready for work, and I gave him a long tender kiss before we parted.

"Bye boyfriend." I smiled against his lips.

"See you tonight, cariño." His voice filled with unspoken promises. I couldn't wait!

After I arrived at work, I checked my phone to see numerous notifications from Facebook. Jake kept me so occupied the night before, I didn't even have time to reply to his message- A fact that didn't go on unnoticed by our friends.

Amber- Aww, sweet. Answer the man Lily!

Rocky- Is that a maybe?

Jasmine- Say yes Lily!!! 💞💘💕

Brandon- Wish you could delete that post now huh Jake?

Jocelyn: lol 🤡

Omar: #FacebookFail

Malik: 🤐

Jordan: 😯

Cam: 👀

I didn't read any more comments. I quickly changed my status to 'in a relationship' with Jake. I added a new post:

I put my phone away once I went inside. I learned that Derek called a meeting in 5 minutes. I skipped going to my locker and headed straight to the conference room.

"Thanks for showing up Lily. I know it was last minute, but today is the only day we're all scheduled to work together and I have news to share." Derek said as I joined everyone in the meeting.

I just nodded and sat down. I wasn't late to work, but definitely not earlier enough to be ready to start work when I was scheduled. I didn't dwell on it as a couple of stragglers came in after me, so I was glad I wasn't the only one cutting it close. If Jake didn't have to leave, I wouldn't have been here at all. Once everyone was settled and quiet, Derek addressed us all.

"Effective September 15th, I will be leaving the clinic. I've been offered a position at a children's hospital and I've accepted." Derek announced. "Steven and Christy will be leaving to join me."

Congratulations and well wishes went around the room. I felt a mixture of emotions; I wasn't expecting this. We had a few rough patches, but I felt like Derek and I had finally gotten on the right path. I was finally used to his expectations and procedures, now I had to get used to someone else's. A little part of me was envious that he didn't consider me worthy enough to ask if I wanted to leave, but I knew Christy and Steven had more experience and worked with Derek a lot longer, so I pushed my jealousy away and congratulated them all.

"The new senior therapist is going to be moving from Arizona. She's very excited to meet and work with you all. Ann from HR asked me to inform you all that we are accepting applications to fill the vacancies. If you can refer anyone, please do so as soon as possible." Derek finished.

After the meeting, we all went about our day and scheduled appointments. I got an email before lunch from Quintin, another therapist, about a Bon Vonage party in September for Derek, Steven, and Christy. Details were to come, but I saved the date and got back to work

Darren, Forrest's student and my patient, was my last appointment of the day. He brought me a copy of his football schedule. I already told him I would try to make a few home games. I was definitely keeping that promise. When I got off work, I saw I had a missed call from Rocky.

"I know you said to mind ya business, but I'm coming over anyway. I want to know EVERYTHING." She announced when I called her back.

I laughed. "That was for your boyfriend, Jake's sister, and anybody else that was hating on the post, not you! I'll tell you everything."

When I got home, Sammy was home. I told her Rocky was coming over and invited her to hang out with us if she wanted to hear the details of Jake and me making it official. I wasn't sure how she would feel about hearing about Jake and me but she said she wanted to hear all about it. We cooked as we waited for Rocky. By the time she showed up, dinner was ready.

We sat down to eat. Well, they ate. I told them everything that happened between Jake and me. How I asked him to be my boyfriend first, but he told me he wanted to do things right and date before taking that next step. I gave them a rundown of the list of dates we went on, and finally what led to the Facebook message they saw the night before.

"I knew he really liked you. I told you he treated you differently from any other girl." She sent Sammy a look. "No offense."

"None taken. Besides, he's too controlling for me." Sammy said as she flipped her hair.

"Controlling?" Rocky furrowed her eyebrows, giving me a look that said 'Talk Bitch'.

"I'm sure that was just because we weren't official. Now that we are, it shouldn't be a problem." I said, convincingly because I believed it. Yeah, he was a little weird about Ethan, but that was because he knew I miscarried with Ethan's baby and no one else did. He was protective of me but it wasn't controlling because I still did whatever I wanted to. I pretty much told him the same when he asked me to be his girlfriend.

Sammy scoffed. "Look at the way he asked you! Publicly, on Facebook. So that everyone can see; especially the person he doesn't want you hanging out with." She pointed out.

"Who?" Rocky asked. "Trevor?"

"No. Ethan." Sammy smirked. "Does he even know about Trevor?"

I ignored that question. I've been giving Trevor space to get over his feelings so we can be friends again, but I couldn't tell Jake. I knew he would never be cool with us being friends if he had feelings for me. "I told you the story about the note. It was just an inside joke. He never said he didn't want me hanging with Ethan."

"Right. Just let him know if you are." Sammy added.

"Quite frankly, I wouldn't want my boyfriend hanging out with his ex at all. I really don't care how he asked, as long as he did. I'm happy for you Lily." Rocky smiled.

Honestly, I loved how he did it. One of the first real conversations we had was him telling me not to worry about never having a boyfriend. He told me to enjoy being single and dating until I found someone that was worthy of the honor of being my first boyfriend. That's exactly what he was doing at the time; waiting for someone that made all the negatives worth it.

I knew he saw my negatives because I opened up to him more than any other guy. I was completely myself with Jake and he still wanted me. Most importantly, I knew what a big deal it was for him to commit to a relationship with me. He knew what a big deal it was to be my first boyfriend. We came a long way to finally committing to each other. er. And now, he was my boyfriend! The fact that he was willing to announce it on Facebook just confirmed I found the right man.

I smiled at her. "Thank you. I'm happy too!"

"Now did y'all exchange I love yous?" Rocky asked.

I shook my head. "No! Way too soon for that." I replied.

"Interesting." Rocky said, thoughtfully.

"What?" I said, finally able to eat.

"Brandon and Jake definitely heard what you said about love at the movie theater." Rocky informed me.

"Fuck..." I muttered.

"What did you say?" Sammy asked.

"Basically that love was softening me up." I explained.

"Well, he didn't freak out. That's a positive." Sammy shrugged, standing to put her plate away.

"She's right. If he didn't feel the same or thought y'all were moving too fast, he would have waited on asking you to be his girlfriend." Rocky agreed.

I nodded.

"So what's up with Labor day?" Rocky asked.

"I don't know. I need to talk to my boyfriend about that." I smiled.

"Well I'm working that weekend so y'all have fun planning." Sammy said, before leaving to go upstairs.

"Ethan mentioned a game night. Or more like game day." Rocky said.

"A game night? On Labor day weekend?" I grinned. Mr. all work no play would pick the holiday dedicated to workers to have a game night. " I love how his brain works. "

I pulled out my phone to text Jake about plans for Labor Day.

"Lily. I have something to tell you. And it's not meant to freak you out or make you question anything. I thought you should know if Jake is having an issue with you hanging with Ethan." Rocky started.