So Lily and Hannah have made their peace...in that special, disjointed Waverly way. 
And hey, eventually those toddler-handling skills ought to come in quite handy to Lily.
There is no other way! Except I may subvert that too.
Why of course! There weren't enough immortals to hand the toddler care to at that point, after all.
That was so sweet! I love that last shot of Lily and Heph. So cute!
It was! They got along pretty well and that was the start of it.
Oh, Waverlys. Good to see that Hannah and Lilly found that twine instead of the barbed wire. Nice bunch of townie kids, too. Tristan, in particular, looks like some good genes.
Tristan indeed had some good genes (like a super-nice nose and his parents' black eyes), and he was one of the only kids at that party who wasn't related to Shark or Franco.
Haven't all the Waverly heirs been witches? Their fangs made me think they were, but Lily's initial reaction toward Heph being a witch confused me.
Oh god, have you ever played an inappropriate witch? I did, and he was a menace who casted Love Charms and Toadification Curses whenever I turned my back. I wouldn't let Annette within 100 feet of magical powers after that. The fangs are there simply as an extra visual reminder that they're a little different.
While I had witches later in the dynasty, they were made with artificial means.
Just got caught up again, Trip. This is such a great story!
Thank you! And thanks for taking the time to catch up. I get wordy very quickly.
Chapter 51: Gentle Prod in the Right Direction
On the morning of Lily’s young adult birthday, Lily did nothing beyond not change out of her underwear before going to the breakfast nook for birthday pancakes. Basically, it was like any weekend. Running into Julian, still in his boxers? Still an average weekend.
However, Julian held a white box in his right arm. Now that made it more of a birthday weekend.
“Surprise!” he said, “Thought you might need this as soon as I could get it to you.”
Lily shook the box, but whatever was inside did not move. Its mass was decidedly average, like a beginner’s weight. As unremarkable as she found the package, Lily still tore through the wrapping, wrapped up herself in anticipation over what Julian had for her; a new engine for the chainsaw? A
really big chocolate?
Instead, she opened the box to a white megaphone, small enough for a backpack.
“I don’t get this,” Lily said, disgruntled.
“Well, you’re going off to uni soon, right?” Julian asked, “You will need that over there--wait, Lita, leave their child alone.”
Julian had a guest over that night. Lita wallowed in the misery of living away from her partner, but a night in Julian’s bed lifted her spirits a little bit. She forlornly picked up Hephaestus after getting dressed for the morning, and then smiled upon seeing his nose crinkle as he smiled too. What a cutie-pie.
“I know this pretty well by now,” she muttered to herself, grabbing a bottle from the kitchen, “Julian, can we have another?” she asked, almost facetiously, “Your boxers are making me feel things.”
“If Lily doesn’t mind me ducking out early for her birthday party,” he said, with a wink, “But really, he has parents to do that.”
“Nah,” Lily said, “If she makes my little brother happy, I don’t think dad and Hannah will mind.”
“Little brother? Looks like you’re getting used to this.”
“What can I say? He’s too adorable to disown.”
Lily then climbed upstairs and hid the megaphone under her bed. Maybe Bronson would have an idea, when he checked under his bed and found the megaphone, now that he would share that bed with Lily once the night was over.
Franco softened a lot after getting treated to a dinner out, so he patiently listened to Lily’s birthday requests. Casual dress code, not his choice, but okay. Buy The Grind, but Annette already did that when Franco was a teenager.
Renovate The Grind, well, that was a bit of a hefty order, until Lily just expressed that she wanted more tables, new stools, and more fog machines.
It all fell into place well. Franco cheered more than his excitable daughter did, but Lily nearly exploded inside. Adulthood, full of university and drinking and, to her chagrin, an actual career, but most of all, full of Bronson.
So while Lily knew better than to blurt out her wish right there and jinx it, she told me what she wished for that day, centuries later when it didn’t matter: after what Franco went through, she just wanted a happy marriage. She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if Bronson ended up as a young widower, after all.
While the candles burned and the wax dripped down them, Bronson momentarily forgot to laugh, while Loki already had a head start. Perhaps his new future hit him in the head like a cannonball too.
Of course, Bronson then came to his senses. Birthdays were hilarious!
His future stepmother-in-law agreed too.
Bronson’s laughs resonated the loudest to Lily, among the crowd of her half-siblings and the Jones-Brown kids cheering or laughing. That deep voice and that booming laugh were finally hers. But then, she heard Hannah’s laugh and fixated on how it vibrated, how it came out so shrill, and how it was so uniquely Hannah.
Yep. Lily forgot something with Hannah. Verbal apologies? Was that something family members were supposed to do? Probably.
Before she talked to Hannah, however, Lily had a few special things waiting in the loft upstairs for her. She was done with the mohawk that appalled Franco, done with ripped jeans and bare lips too. She saved a tube of copper-colored lipstick ever since her teen birthday and applied it, finally letting her lips stand out from her pink skin.
Alright. She eradicated any birthday black magic that messed up her wardrobe. Lily almost got down the first step to sit down next to Hannah at the bar, get her a cocktail, and apologize. Then someone squeezed her around the middle, with the force of a bodybuilder.
“Lilypad!” Bronson said, whispering in her ear, “Happy ‘I can woohoo with you
all the time now’ day.” Lily squeezed him even harder upon hearing that. Oh yes, he probably had a good birthday present in mind.
“Alright, but I requested some Turmion Kätilöt just for us to dance to, and it’s coming on right after this song,” she said. “Come on. We’re at the club. I have to dance.”
“Aww,” Bronson said, “You know how to make parties bearable.”
So as the cake disappeared and the teenaged guests left for the sake of obeying curfew, Lily and Bronson grooved to “Tirehtööri” and “MTV/DNA” and all of the electronic/metal goodness of the songs. While that happened, Hannah and Franco made a toast and downed a shot each. Lily watched Hannah tip her head back and let the strong juice straight down her throat.
When the last song ended and Bronson didn’t care about the party anymore, Lily pushed her dad off his barstool and took his place, passing the mixologist’s offer of a congratulatory drink, and tried to butter up Hannah before it turned out that Hannah had a plan of her own.
“Lily! You’re all grown up now, and your dad and I had a long talk,” Hannah said.
Taken aback, Lily had no response.
“You’re not in trouble. It’s just a talk I have to have with you,” she continued. “We’re in the area, so I thought I would take you somewhere special.”
“Um, okay?” Hannah grabbed Lily by the wrist, dragging her and her new leather boots on the warehouse floors, nearly throwing Lily into the Motive Mobile and driving on some dirt road, through frozen mud patches and stretched where half the road was overtaken by cattails that grew far past their confines in the swamp. Up to a two-story house with a winding walkway, weathered siding, and the porch lights turned on.
“It’s aunt Carmen’s house,” Lily said flatly. She visited there at least once a week for group study sessions, sitcom marathons, and
Super Smash Bros. with her half-siblings.
“It is now, and I have a bone to pick with her for that, but you obviously remember Tay. I mean, it’s hard to think that it was only a few years ago.” Lily nodded.
“Well, this was his house! And I think four or five years ago, or something like that, I broke down crying right to the left of the house after Tay died.”
“Your point?” Lily asked, “You’re almost worse than Gram with this rambling nonsense.”
“I don’t want you to be like me, and I can tell that you won’t. So this is my way of saying congrats for not being so thick in the head and going for some crusty old man instead. I love you dad, and he did so well with you.”
“You really think that?”
“Yes.”
“So you really just described your ex as a crusty old man?”
“Heavens! Lily, I cared about Tay,” Hannah said, “But I have to be honest. Dating older people sucks and I don’t wish that path on anyone.”
“Hey, I’ll take your word for that,” Lily said, “So you
really think I turned out well?”
“Honestly, you’re the best kid I’ll ever know, well, tied with my son. You’re talented and good with friends, stubborn and passionate, downright gorgeous, I don’t know how Franco could have asked for a better daughter. I think I always saw those things in you.”
“Disregarding rough starts?”
“I hope we can disregard them.”
Lily nodded and stretched her arms out. “Come on Hannah, you deserve it.”
“A hug? For old me?” She fell right into Lily’s arms.
“Happy birthday, again,” Hannah said. Then Carmen’s car pulled into the little spot marked at the edge of the lot, with the headlines on and shining directly at Hannah.
“Hey! It’s midnight. Get your non-awesome rear off my lawn,” Carmen yelled.
“Ex-cuuuse me?” Hannah asked, hand on her hip, “I’m not the one who bought your ex’s house.”
Lily fled the scene. Truce or no truce, Hannah had to deal with half-sisters herself.
She got her diploma at the next ceremony, graduating with honors. The Jones-Brown siblings offered to throw her a graduation party later that day, mostly just to fill up the guest list for Loki’s own party. And they had a spare bedroom that they gave Bronson the key to.
After filling themselves with carrot sticks and dip, shrimp and cocktail sauce, and other assorted hors d'oeuvres, Lily and Bronson were in the mood to put the spare bedroom to use, but as soon as they fluffed the pillows and settled into the orange sheets that one of the siblings spread out just for them, Loki barged in.
“Shoo,” Lily said, “You gave us the bedroom for tonight. You leave us alone in it.”
“And what is so inappropriate about watching?” Loki said, grinning.
“He has a point, Lil,” Bronson said.
“Don’t agree with him!” Lily snarled.
“So, are you two trying to make a nooboo or something?” Loki asked.
“I’m barely out of high school,” Lily said, “What gave you that idea?”
“Well, your family is really big on making nooboos while Lilith and I took celibacy vows, so I kind of thought that was first on your mind. And getting a job, and doing all sorts of uber-ambitious things.”
Lily death-glared him. “Get out before I put my mum’s special ‘bad customer’ laxatives in your soda.” Loki backed away and shut the door, activating the lock.
“So, you ready?” Bronson asked, trying to put his arm around Lily. She swatted it away and fell onto the pristine, white, never-used pillow.
“I’m too existentially drained for that, Bronson-bear,” she said, weakly. “I have no idea what I want to do. I mean, I like sculpting, but careers? Children?”
“I mean, that’s pretty whacked, but no plans? You’re going to uni! We are. Aren’t you supposed to grow up and find yourself there?” Bronson asked, turning towards Lily.
“Look. Mum, dad, Gram, and Hannah all went for the hell of it. They had no growing to do. They spent two semesters doing keg stands for ‘sociological study.’ We see things a little differently than your family did.”
“Time to switch things up then. We’ll talk in the morning.” Bronson turned out the light to the side of him and fell fast asleep, still digesting some crackers and cheese, or whatever else they had out. Lily lay on her back with her eyes wide open, though, with dreams or nightmares about university. Then it was dreams, when she remembered about Julian’s little gift.
She changed her mind on a lot by the morning. Clear and fresh, the two returned home and finally paid attention to the university welcome kits sitting on the porch.
They just needed a gentle prod in the right direction.
However, while Bronson packed his suitcase, Lily procrastinated. “We’re waiting,” she said bluntly.
“What? Can you just make up your mind for once?” he criticized.
“Silly, it’s just another week. I’m not missing Heph’s birthday.”
Time went by quickly for Hannah and her little boy, and she almost couldn’t lift him to the cake, but after sheer willpower lifted him up, they both blew out the candles with their mightiest or most pathetic blows. At Hannah’s age, every birthday she was at was a gift. As she bitterly put her son down on the floor to watch him grow another foot and a half, she sweetly anticipated what future he had.
He was excited for it too.
And one wardrobe change later, Lily and Bronson weren’t the only ones with an educational future ahead of them.
Hephaestus had arithmetic and his first chapter-books ahead of him.
Lily ran off to something a little more, with her megaphone nestled next to a street art kit and radical new underwear in the corner of her suitcase.
Word Count for this chapter:
2,086Word Count so far:
81,773
