─────────────── shameless
⨳              𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟬𝟬𝟲 . . . ꗃ ≀ ▊✹
❛ the blazing movie screening ! ❜ · ˚.‧ .

✹ . . . "I DON'T WANT TO BE AT THIS STUPID THING," Lilla groaned, dragging her feet. She and Dante were at the annual OBX Summer Movie Series showing, and she was not in the mood for it. He had claimed she'd been moping at home, even though everything was now fine with their parents again. She had apologized for going off on them, and they had assured her that it was okay and everyone was allowed to have their bad days. They also reminded her that she could come talk to them about anything if she ever needed to. But she wasn't sure that she wanted to discuss the one thing that had been weighing on her mind nonstop since.

She'd been close to hooking up with Rafe.

She would've done it if Ward hadn't come looking for his son.

It made her mind swirl—the thought of it, that was. Why had she done that? She wasn't sure. Did she even like him like that? She wasn't sure. What was she supposed to do now that it had almost happened? She wasn't sure. How was she supposed to act around him now? She wasn't sure.

And to make matters worse, the only people she trusted enough to talk about anything of importance with were her parents, Sarah, and Dante. But she wasn't going to tell her brother or her parents about her almost-hookup because that thought made her uncomfortable and her skin crawl. And she would talk about it with Sarah, except the boy was her brother, and she didn't want to scar her for life by knowing that information. Plus, she hadn't seen Sarah since they were on the beach, and the messages she was receiving from her best friend were rather vague. Like when she asked her where she was, Sarah just said she was helping a friend.

What friend? Lilla had thought.

Sarah had other friends besides her; she knew that, and her being with another one of them wasn't a problem, of course. But Lilla had assumed that none of them were more than acquaintances that she hung out with at parties and said hi to in passing. The only one besides Lilla that had ever been close enough to Sarah to enlist help that required her being gone for hours on end was Kiara, and they were far from friends now.

Nevertheless, she told Sarah to be careful with whatever she was doing and had decided to leave her alone until she saw her again. She'd hidden herself in her room since she didn't have a shift at Los Morales the prior evening; instead, it had been Dante, and neither one of them had one that day either. So there they were, at the stupid movie screening.

It wasn't as if Lilla wasn't looking forward to it. She usually enjoyed watching the movies each year, but she wasn't looking forward to being out and about, seeing people she would rather not see. For example, Rafe, whom she saw standing near the food station with Topper and Kelce. Scratch that—that was three people she'd rather not see.

She knew that if Topper got her alone and talked for more than two seconds, he'd probably ask questions about Sarah. And one, she didn't have answers for him, and two, she wouldn't give them to him anyway even if she did.

"Lilla, come on. It'll be fun," Dante told her, not even questioning why she turned her head further in his direction but didn't look at him as she blocked her face with her hand. He knew that she was clearly hiding from someone, but he didn't know who, and he knew not to push her. She'd tell him eventually. "Now, go over to the food station and get us some food and drinks. I'll set up our blanket and shit."

Her gaze snapped to him, her eyes wide. The food station was the one place she really, really didn't want to go. Yet here he was, telling her to. "No, you do it," she retorted, grabbing the bag that they'd brought with them. It had their blanket and other things they needed just in case.

"No, you do it," he countered, yanking the bag back.

"Dante, as the older twin, I am telling you to go do it."

"Lilla, as the one with the bag of our things, I'm telling you to go do it."

She glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest in protest, but he just glared back at her. She knew the older-by-five-minutes card never worked with him. She always ended up doing whatever it was that they were arguing about doing, not in the mood to go back and forth. This time was no different. She tried to hold her ground, but then she gave up, groaning in annoyance. She turned on her heels, going towards the food station.

"Hey, get me some nachos, some candy, like all the different kinds, and some pizza—you know how I like it!" Dante called out as he just watched her back. "And get some Dr. Pepper and some popcorn!"

She just waved her hand in the air, telling him that she heard him, but kept her back to him. He was such a junk food connoisseur, and she didn't know how he stomached it all. All she wanted were some nachos with jalapenos in the cheese, some Twizzlers (with the filling because they were superior to regular, wax-like Twizzlers), and some popcorn with a Dr. Pepper to drink. She was surprised her brother's teeth weren't falling out of his head with the amount of candy he ate.

When she made it to the food station, she tried not to let the three she did not want to see notice her standing there as she put in her order with the man working. He gave her an odd look, and she just awkwardly smiled as he shook his head and rang up the total. She paid for it and then stepped off to the side as she waited for him to gather it all. She didn't know how she was going to carry it all by herself. She really hoped he had a bag that she could put all of Dante's candy and the sodas inside, so that she could carry the nachos and pizza without dropping them.

It was then that Kiara came over to the food station, not even casting a glance at Lilla. It was like she hadn't noticed her, and Lilla was fine with that. She and Kiara didn't get along. There was no reason in particular; they just didn't.

"Hey, uh... Can I get two Pepsis, please?" She asked the guy, pulling her wallet out of her back pocket.

"Sure." The vendor nodded, ringing up her total like he had done with Lilla.

Then Lilla spotted Rafe again, who was wearing his hat backwards, which totally wasn't something she thought looked really good on him, heading over to the Carrera girl, and she turned around quickly so that he wouldn't see her. "Hey, Kie," he said, coming up beside the Pogue as she handed her card to the vendor. His eyes were on the vendor in front of her for a long moment as Rafe took a step closer, watching him set the sodas she had bought on the counter and then grabbing them. "Hey, what's up? How are you?"

Lilla was trying not to eavesdrop, but how could she not?

"I'm fine," Kiara replied, sounding bored.

"Good, good," Rafe continued. "Um... Tell your boy that we know what he did."

Kiara was silent for a second.

Lilla's attention was caught briefly when the vendor set her and Dante's nachos and his pizza in front of her, then set the cans down and a bag, presumably full of the candy that Dante had wanted. She thanked him quietly, still trying to listen, and he hummed in response.

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?" the girl finally asked.

"Uh, he'll know," Rafe said confidently as Lilla put the cans in the bag, then put the loops around her wrist. They both fell silent again, and Lilla knew that they were just staring at each other because she glanced over her shoulder quickly before facing forward again. "Bye," he then told her while watching her walk away, holding the two Pepsis in her hands.

"Douche," Kiara said, not glancing back at him.

Lilla almost laughed, but she kept her composure, not wanting Rafe to know that she was there or had been listening. Now that the interesting but curious conversation was over, she needed to get back to Dante before Rafe noticed her. She grabbed her nachos and pizza, doing her best to carry them without dropping them. Luckily, she was a server part-time, so it wasn't too difficult. She turned to walk away, but just as she did so, Rafe's eyes caught onto her.

"Lilla," he called, causing her to stop and squeeze her eyes shut. She cursed under breath before opening her eyes and turning back around to face him. Her focus immediately landed on his smug smile, and she wanted to roll her eyes. He moved closer to her, putting his hands in his shorts pockets. "Hey."

"Hi," she replied flatly.

He looked at the food in her hands. "Do you need help with that?" He inclined his head towards what she was holding before meeting her eyes again.

"No, I'm good," she answered snarkily, but moved back over to the food station, setting the nachos and pizza down. She knew he wanted a conversation with her, and she felt awkward just standing there holding food while it heated her skin. Plus, her arms were getting tired.

His eyes followed her movements, and his smile returned as his tongue poked at his back teeth, like he found something quite amusing. "So that's how it's going to be?"

"How what's going to be?" She raised her brows questioningly, crossing her arms over her chest; the bag handles still looped around one of them. She knew exactly what she meant, but he didn't need to know that. Her ignoring-what-happened act was not going to fail, no matter what. It was an in-the-moment thing, and it was a mistake. It wasn't going to happen again, so there was no point in thinking about it any longer.

He chuckled, looking down at his shoes. "Fine."

She stood there for a moment, staring at him as he stared at her. Then something crossed her mind, and she couldn't help but ask. "What was that before? With Kiara."

"Just a friendly warning." He frowned his lips, shrugging like it was nothing, which reminded her a lot of Sarah. Then he looked over at where the girl they spoke of was sitting. "One of her little Pogue boys did something that deserves payback."

Her brows furrowed as she focused on Kiara too, seeing her sitting with JJ and Pope. She looked back at Rafe with confusion on her face. "JJ and Pope?" she asked, causing him to focus on her. "What did they do that was so bad it deserves payback? Is it about what happened at the boneyard?" She didn't give him a second to answer before she pointed a finger at him. "Better question is, what did you do that made them do something so bad that it deserves payback?" She gave him a snarky smile as she crossed her arms again.

He just smirked. "Nothing that wasn't deserved," he told her, leaning a bit forward as she narrowed her eyes at him. "See you later, Lilla. Have fun watching." With that, he walked away and went back to Topper and Kelce.

Lilla watched him for a moment longer before she grabbed the nachos and pizza again and made her way over to Dante. She hoped the food wasn't already getting cold with how long she'd been over there. She'd never hear the end of it from Dante if it was.

When she came to a stop next to her brother, who had already set out the blanket that they were sitting on and the pillows and other blankets they were going to use in case they got uncomfortable or cold as the day went on and the sunset, he looked up at her. "Took you long enough," he said, shaking his head. She knew he was just messing with her, but sometimes he made her want to strangle him.

"Shut up," she told him. "And take your stupid nachos and pizza."

He did as told, mocking her words under his breath.

She sat down, now only holding her own nachos, and set the bag of candy and their soda in front of them. Then she smacked the back of his head with her hand as her eyes were trained on the large projector screen in front of them, causing him to look over at her quickly and rub the back of his head.

"Ow," he muttered.

"Oh hush, you big baby."

"Someone's still in a mood, I see."

She gave him a sarcastic smile. "Only because of you."

Again, he mocked her under his breath, facing towards his food.

She set her nachos in front of her as she leaned forward to get the drinks out of the bag. She handed one to him and kept the second for herself, cracking it open and taking a sip. She could feel eyes on her, and she already knew that it was Rafe, but she didn't look in his direction. It was clear that he wasn't going to forget what had almost happened between them as easily as she was, and she knew that he was going to annoy the shit out of her even more so now. Lilla set her open can in a little cupholder thing that her parents had and let her borrow for moments like this when they had no place to put their drinks. It was quite convenient, actually. Then she began eating her nachos, waiting for the movie screening to begin.

Eventually, it did, and she and Dante stayed in their spots the whole time as they watched the movie projected onto the screen. Their food was gone not long into the movie, and all they had left to snack on was candy, which they did. Lilla stole a few of her brother's candies before he smacked her hand away and scowled her. The sun set, letting the darkness of the night take over. Everything was going seemingly well, despite Rafe's warning to Kiara earlier, which only made Lilla even more nervous about what was to come.

It wasn't an OBX get-together without something happening.

The boneyard kegger had John B. almost being drowned by Topper, and Topper almost getting a bullet in his head by JJ. The party the other night had Topper and Sarah jumping off the roof, Rafe selling and doing cocaine, and Topper getting mad at Sarah for changing her mind about doing anything further than making out.

Lilla wondered what that night would entail.

The sound of gunshots rang from the black-and-white film they were in the middle of watching, and Lilla was actually paying pretty close attention to it. She wasn't usually one for old movies, especially black-and-white films, but this one was quite interesting, though she knew she'd forget the plot by the time they got home that night. Her attention, however, was caught when two people stood up from the ground just a bit in front of her and Dante. Not just any two people, though; it was JJ and Pope. Her stomach churned uncomfortably, and she knew it wasn't because of the soda she drank or the candy she ate.

She had a bad feeling.

She watched them as well as she could through the darkness while they went besides the movie screen and towards the few trees that were planted there. Then she lost them in the shadows. She assumed they just had to take a piss, but she wondered why they wouldn't just use the bathrooms. But when she glanced over, she realized why and let out a sigh. Topper, Rafe, and Kelce were sitting in their seats right near them. JJ and Pope would have to go right past them to get to the bathrooms. She faced forward, trying her best to refocus on the film.

That didn't work out in her favor, however. Not when Rafe, Topper, and Kelce got up from their seats and she focused on them again. She watched them closely as they went in the direction of JJ and Pope, and she swallowed the lump in her throat as her nerves picked up. She didn't want to get involved because she didn't know what Pope and JJ had done to piss the boys off, or vice versa. And what was she going to do to stop it? Yell at them? She could hold her own when needed but not against all of them. She didn't want Dante getting involved either because last time he tried, he was almost at the bad end of a gun.

She just remained where she was sitting, but her nerves were as clear as day. So much so that Dante looked over at her with worry and confusion in his expression. Her eyes just remained on the screen as her brows furrowed anxiously. Then she noticed Kiara getting up from her seat and following where her friends had gone off too. Lilla bit her lip and shook her hands as she tried to rid herself of her anxiety. Once she did, somewhat—or rather, worked up some courage—she stood up from her seat too.

Her brother watched her with confusion as she began walking away. "Lil," he whispered with furrowed brows, trying to catch her attention but also disturb any of the others there. "Where are you—" He sighed when she didn't turn around and was too far away to hear him. "Oh, for the love of God." He got up from the ground quickly, following after his sister.

When Lilla and Dante made it behind the screen, all they saw was fists being thrown and Kiara jumping on Topper's back to get him away from JJ.

"What the hell, Rafe!?" asked Lilla sharply, moving closer to them.

Rafe didn't even glance at her as the fighting continued. Dante moved over to where Kiara was on Topper's back, seeming to want to help stop whatever was going on. But then Rafe grabbed onto Kiara, pulled her off of Topper, and threw her on the ground.

"Stay out of this, Kiara!" he told her warningly. Then he finally focused on Lilla, pointing a telling finger at her as Pope asked Kiara if she was okay. "You too, Lilla!"

Then Topper grabbed Pope from where he had been leaning over and checking on Kiara, putting him in a chokehold. "Admit you did it, bitch!" Topper said harshly, holding his arm tight around the boy's neck, while JJ and Dante continued to fight with Kelce and Rafe. "Come on!" He was out of his fucking mind, and Lilla watched in horror, almost frozen in place. This was the boy her best friend was dating, and that was her best friend's brother fighting her brother. "You don't mess with me, Pogue! You hear me? I'm gonna give you one chance."

Lilla got a hold of herself and moved over to Kiara, watching her dig through her bag and pull out something. She looked down at the girl with a hint of concern. She and Kiara weren't best friends, nor would they ever be, but she still didn't want to see her hurt. Kiara didn't seem hurt though, as she looked up at Lilla, raising what she had grabbed for her to see. It was a lighter, the Morales-Grey girl realized when she focused on it, then back on Kiara, who smirked as a thought seemed to cross her mind.

Lilla furrowed her brows, watching as Kiara moved over to the screen and the fighting continued behind her. She was trying her best to block out Pope's choking noises, the sounds of punches, and Topper's threatening words. She didn't want to see how badly her brother was being beaten. Maybe he was holding his own, though. She hoped he was.

Kiara lit the lighter, aiming the flame towards the screen. The corner caught fire, and then the whole screen began to burn, causing some of the crowd to gasp from the frontside of it, not even close to being aware of what was going on behind the screen. Kiara backed away quickly, standing up straight as the fire grew.

The boys noticed, and they were muttering things about the screen being on fire as they backed away from it. Topper finally let go of Pope, who fell to the ground wheezing and coughing, as Kiara turned to him and shouted, "Get off of him!" She focused on JJ and Kelce, who were holding the blonde in a chokehold as well. "Kelce, let go of JJ!"

Lilla realized that Topper had been holding Pope and Kelce had been holding JJ, which meant that Dante had been going up against Rafe all by himself. Oh, how messy that was for her. Her brother and her best friend's brother duking it out over something that didn't even have to do with the former. The same boy her brother had been fighting was also one both of them grew up with and one that she had almost gotten with the day before.

Lilla squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she heard Rafe tell them that they needed to get out of there. She was trying to hold back her tears over the frustration she was feeling. Then she opened them and watched as Rafe, Topper, and Kelce began walking away, not missing the pointed look the first sent her. She ignored his look, rolling her eyes, and went over to Dante, needing to check if he was all right.

When she reached her brother, he was holding the brim of his nose, and his face was twisted in pain. "Why do I get involved in these things?" he asked, groaning in pain. He opened his eyes to meet her sympathetic ones.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's fine," he replied, then grabbed her wrist. "Come on, we need to get out of here." He pulled her away from the blazing movie screen as they made their way back over to their spot. Immediately, they began packing it up as Dante winced in pain. Rafe had done a real number on him, it seemed like. They put all of their things away in the bag they'd brought and threw their trash away on the way to her car.

Neither wasted another second in hopping in and taking in deep breaths once the doors were closed. They leaned their heads back against the headrests of the seats as they closed their eyes and tried to calm themselves after what had happened. Dante was more freaked out than Lilla, understandably. He wasn't ever one to get into fights unless he really had to, and tonight was one of the cases. He didn't have to this time around, per se, but he wasn't just going to sit around and watch while JJ and Pope were nearly killed by some egotistical and lunatic Kooks, whom he wasn't really fond of in the first place, the same way he had been when trying to help John B. at the boneyard.

When Lilla opened her eyes, she rolled her head to the right against the headrest so she could focus on her brother, who found her gaze in return. "What are we going to tell mom and dad about your face?" she asked, already knowing that he was going to have bruises to go along with the cuts on his cheek, nose, and lip.

"The truth," he replied. "Some dumbasses were beating up some other dumbasses, and I jumped in to help." He shrugged like it was as simple as that. She guessed it was. "They'll understand, Lil."

She inhaled deeply through her nose as she looked out her front windshield, then exhaled just the same as his eyes remained on her. "I know," she muttered, her brows knitted slightly as her mind ran a million miles.

"What's wrong?" He knew it was something other than the fight.

She didn't look at him as she felt her chin slightly wobble. "I just didn't know Rafe was violent like that," she admitted, hating that he was the one on her mind at the moment. "Especially towards someone who has been like family to him since we met him."

"Some people just aren't who we think they are," Dante said softly. "But Topper was the one doing the worst. Rafe only threw a few punches at me, and I threw some back. I'd consider us even. I'm not going to have any ill will towards him for tonight, and neither should you."

Neither should you.

✹ . . . ella's thoughts ! · ˚.‧ .
i hate writing fight scenes so that's why the one in this chapter was like two seconds long LMAO

lilla and dante >>
we love chaotic sibling duos

i hope you enjoyed! make sure to comment and vote 🫶🏻

kisses.

━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦
𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬 . . . © -lostgardens, 2024

word count. 4188.   written. 9.13.24.   published. 10.27.24.