The Monroe Legacy - G.4 Chapter 8 - Bad Penny

Lillia's arrival at the sorority for her sophomore year was marked by a typical house party. The guys postured and pulled pranks, girls screamed, smiled plastic smiles and fluttered their fake lashes. After a summer around her laid back family Lillia was painfully aware of how shallow and meaningless it all was. While Rose threw herself back into the social scene with relish, Lillia tipped out the beer someone had passed her and refilled her solo cup with water.

The evening dragged by, she sipped her water, fended of a few over-eager lads and made small talk with all her friends. They were all so similar, so predictably boring. She found herself fighting to keep her mind off Noki.

If he was here he would have sought her out to mock the whole process, pointing out all the stupid proceedings and disasters about to happen. She would have laughed and vehemently rejected his pessimism whilst secretly agreeing with him. His ability to be part of a world while relentlessly criticising it was fascinating. It was one of the reasons she had fall.... No. That was the past and she wouldn't repeat those mistakes even in her mind. Lillia blushed recalling her last college party and how it had ended.

'Ooh! Who are you daydreaming about?!'

A familiar and unwelcome voice brought Lillia back into the room.

'Oh hi Daisy!', she plastered on a fake smile as she hugged her friend gingerly. The two had drifted apart since college began with Lillia being accepted by sorority royalty and Daisy never making out if the ranks of the bitchy wannabes. As the hug broke apart Lillia caught a glint of something in her friends eye, a smugness she hadn't seen since Daisy had run the high school popular crowd.

'So who were you thinking of? Brad? Mugsy?' Daisy's tone was innocent but the glint was still in her eye.

Lillia shrugged. 'Nobody in particular, it's just exciting to be back I guess.' She tried to walk away but Daisy wasn't done.

'Hmmm. If you say so... Though I'm not sure that just being back is reason to blush as much as you were doing.' For a moment it looked as the Daisy was going to keep on pushing but she abruptly changed tack.

'So what did you and Rose get up to this summer while I was in Maui?'

Relieved Lillia replied, 'Oh not much, the beach, a few clubs, the mall, movies, talking. You know how Lucky Palms is.'

'Oh I sure do! So you talked a lot. I expect it took Rosie a while to get over Noki.... Strange how months of happiness can be washed away so fast.'

Lillia stiffened. She didn't want to discuss that. 'Yes, Rose took it hard, it was a shock that it fell apart so quickly.'

'So fast.' Daisy leaned in with a wicked smile, 'In fact it only took seven minutes.'

As Daisy stepped back there was triumph written all over her face. Lillia's speechless horror had told her everything she needed to know and with one last smug smile she melted back into the crowd.

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For the next few weeks Lillia spent her days in a state of near-constant panic. Expecting Daisy to have told Rose she spent long hours in the library, avoiding the house wherever possible in the hope that her cousin might have at least calmed down a little before the inevitable confrontation. But the storm never hit and as the term got going Lillia gradually began to let her guard down. With Rose's time being divided between her many friends all over campus the two had drifted apart again which helped ease the guilty twinge that she couldn't ignore when they were together.

Months passed in a generic blur, broken up by moments of excitement (the annual Toga party) and stress (exams). Christmas came and went in a cinnamon scented haze and Lillia had just settled back into classes when the storm came. It was almost unheard of, on the edge of impossibility but that was the year that it snowed in Arizona! It might as well have been the apocalypse, classes were cancelled, girls cried and huddled in their rooms with cocoa and movies, the normal world of college just stopped for a week.

Lillia thought it was magical and while her sorority sisters huddled in the house she pulled on her coat and boots and explored the strangely alien frozen world that campus had become. The people who ventured out seemed different to the usual college types, their big coats, cold related small talk and red noses made it feel a friendlier place, more like a community than the normal set up of rigid cliques. To Lillia the whole college felt like new with all the reminders of stupid things she had done hidden under a clean white blanket. It felt like anything could happen, which is perhaps why the unthinkable did.

She had ventured out into the residential area behind the stadium and discovered a funny little house, painted all in yellow that stood out sharply in the white world. It seemed abandoned so she snuck up and peeked in the window, amused to discover that the interior was all be yellow too! As she stepped back she collided with something warm and solid, someone had come up behind her and caught her peeping.

Embarrassed Lillia muttered an apology and turned to leave without even looking whoever it was in the face. A hand on her sleeve made her stiffen but it was the familiar voice which really stopped her in her tracks.

'What a nice surprise!' His tone was jovial but it still did that dangerous brain muddling thing to her.

'Uh- oh.... Um....' was all she managed until his charming grin at her tongue-tiedness reminded her why she wasn't friends with him. Lillia took a steadying breath and began to walk away.

'Good bye Noki' was her only communication.

But he didn't get the hint, following her as she strode purposefully down the drive.

'Wait! Lillia! Can we talk?' Noki's long stride easily matched her own, drifting closer as the undeniable electricity between them rose back to the surface. But she was different now so she kept walking, raising her hand as he tried to step closer to her than she was comfortable with.

'There's nothing to talk about. Nothing at all. What are you even doing here? Go back to Texas!' As calm as Lillia was trying to stay she couldn't keep the edge of panic out of her voice. She needed for him, her biggest mistake, to be far away. But here he was, with a few miles of her home, he needed to go back and fast before he could break her defences back down or tell anyone what they had done.

But life had other plans and once again the stars were not aligned in Lillia's favour.

'This is where I live now,' Noki gestured back at the yellow house his tone had lost some of it's cockiness, 'I... I transferred schools. It's a long story, if you'll stop running away then I'll tell you the whole damn thing.'

For a moment Lillia paused! she could hear something in his voice she hadn't heard before. He sounded almost... Vulnerable. She shook herself. It didn't matter. She looked him squarely in the face, ignoring the hopefulness of his expression and spoke firmly, as much for herself as for him.

'I'm sorry but I can't, won't stay. Find another friend,' and repeating her earlier farewell she turned and left.

This time he didn't follow her.

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Read on in Chapter 9 - No More Hiding