Closed Hold On to Me

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily had tripped and fell down the stairs more than once, so now she was sore and hyperventilating. What was she supposed to do now? Her heart was pounding painfully in her chest, it felt like someone had hit her in the chest with a hammer. How could he? How could he? She stumbled down onto the fourth-floor corridor, wanting nothing more than to hide in her bed and cry. As she fell against the wall, needing the support to get herself back to her dorm, she spotted Lars and Elliot standing outside the entrance. Seeing them, her face crumbled and she let out a sob. "L-lars! E-Elliot!" She stuttered, lurching forward. She clamped a hand over her mouth and rushed forward. Lars happened to be closest so she barreled into him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest and just crying like a baby.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Even after a nice long walk with Elliot, Lars was reluctant to let go of his hand. They were lingering near the Hufflepuff common room, where Elliot would soon have to go inside, but it seemed to Lars like neither of them really wanted to part. At least, he knew he didn't. He was trying to think of a way to extend this time with Elliot for just a few more moments, wondering if he should lean in and kiss his boyfriend. But it still felt a little strange to do that just out in the corridor, even though he knew it wasn't a bad thing. He had just started to lean in to kiss Elliot goodbye, when he suddenly heard their name called by a familiar voice. He looked up in time to see Lily rush towards them, clearly distressed. To Lars' surprise, she ran to him first, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face against his chest. Alarmed, Lars let go of Elliot's hand to pat at her back, his gaze moving to Elliot with wide eyes. "Uh, Lily? A-are you hurt?" He asked, not sure what could be making her cry so much.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot was relieved the Valentine's Dance hadn't been as stressful as he had been fretting about all afternoon, smiling at Lars as they had decided to call it a night and walk back to the dorms together. It was nice walking back hand in hand with Lars, though sometime around the third floor Elliot's palms had really started to sweat and Elliot wondered if he should let go so it wouldn't be gross or if that was rude. Was sweaty handholding really romantic? Elliot gave Lars' hand an experimental squeeze. They'd paused near the Hufflepuff common room and Elliot could tell Lars was hesitating ending the night. He smiled at Lars, wondering if he could brush his hair out of his eyes or something to help Lars relax more as Lars leaned towards him, but they were interrupted by Lily appearing from seemingly no where, crashing into Lars and sobbing.

Elliot had stepped back when Lily collided with Lars, raising his hands to hover nervously around the pair and shooting Lars a panicked look. "Lily, what happened?" He asked, trying not to crowd her. She didn't look obviously hurt or jinxed, but Elliot couldn't help but check the corridor, stomach twisting at the thought that maybe Tyler had done something horrible again.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily sobbed, heart twisted in knots in her chest. After several moments of crying she pulled away from Lars, feeling terrible for dragging the two of them into it. "I-I'm s-so s-sorry," She cried, stepping back and trying to wipe away the tears that she couldn't get to stop. "I-I w-was going t-to go to bed," She buried her face in her hands, backing away from the boys a bit more. "T-there was a p-pink rose," She cried. "Well, t-two, but no notes, I-I..." She sobbed again. "I r-realized, I ah, I w-wanted one t-t-to, um, to be f-from Jasper," She stuttered violently. "I like Jasper," She sobbed. "I-I-I d-didn't know w-what, ah, what to do s-so I w-went up t-the tower," She started crying harder. "H-he f-found me a-and he- he- he..." She crumpled, wrapping both arms around her chest and bending down a bit as she cried harder. "He kissed me!" She sobbed. "And s-said it d-didn't... didn't mean anything!" She bit her lip, trying to quiet herself.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars was looking at Elliot with some panic, hoping he would tell Lars what to do. Even though Lars had three sisters, he still felt a little uncomfortable holding Lily like this. What if he did something wrong and upset her more? Lily let go of him, but still looked very upset. "It's okay..." Lars said softly, digging in his pockets as he listened to Lily. Eventually he pulled out a handkerchief with a few paint splotches on it and held it out to the girl. Her story was a little hard to follow because of how upset she was, but Lars tried to listen closely anyway. "Oh no..." He said softly when she was done, casting another helpless look at Elliot. "I'm sorry... Lily... that sounds awful." He couldn't imagine what he would have felt if Elliot had reacted that way when he had kissed him. He could still remember how scary it had been to make that move. He didn't know Jasper very well, but didn't think kissing someone and then saying it didn't mean anything was a very good thing to do. "How can we help?" He asked nervously.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot listened to Lily as she stuttered her way through an explanation, tentatively stepping over to wrap an arm around her shoulders, rubbing his hand on her arm comfortingly as he shot Lars another worried glance. This wasn't exactly how he'd imagined ending the evening, but Lily was horrifically upset.

The news that Lily liked Jasper was a surprise, though Elliot guessed Lily hadn't really told him anything about Mihail until they were already sort of dating so Elliot tried to put his hurt at not knowing aside and focus on Lily right now. At first he had thought maybe Lily hadn't wanted Jasper to kiss her and that was why she was upset, but the more she spoke, it was obvious that is was the opposite, which was possibly even more devastating. Did Lily and Mihail even kiss? Elliot couldn't remember if Lily had told him that or not and squeezed Lily's shoulder tightly, glad that, while awkward, his first kiss had been with someone like Lars. "Do you wanna sit down?" He offered tentatively, feeling a bit useless. Elliot didn't know what advice they could offer here, besides maybe talking to Jasper about it, but he couldn't imagine Lily wanted to do that any time soon, and Elliot wasn't about to go hunt him down.

 

[Lillian Lockwood]

Lily just couldn't seem to pull herself together. She took the handkerchief from Lars, that was just so sweet of him, and when Elliot squeezed her shoulder she crumpled a bit more. She turned, burying her face in his neck and clinging to his shoulders. She cried for a moment before turning her head slightly and looking to Lars, motioning him over. "I-I'm s-so sorry," She cried, "I d-didn't mean t-to, um, t-to interrupt," She apologized, trying not to sob. "J-just... hold me?" She requested softly. It felt silly to ask but having the boys holding on to her was helping her to get a grip like they were squeezing the shattered pieces of her heart back into something resembling what it had been before.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars felt a little awkward, but was glad that Lily took the handkerchief. At least it seemed like something he was doing was helping a little bit. Out of the two of them, Elliot was definitely closer to Lily, so Lars wondered if he should leave. He wasn't sure if Lily was embarrassed that he was here, seeing her so upset. "It's okay... You're not interrupting..." He said when Lily apologized for interrupting. He blinked in surprise when she asked them to hold her, and he glanced at Elliot uncertainly. Then he nodded and moved a little closer, rubbing her back a little nervously.