Arriving at Ethan's
Lillian parked her car out on the street (oh well...it was a rental), and got out some of her shopping bags, then walked up to the building. There was no buzzer up, of course, so she just went inside.
Yeah, this wasn’t the best place she’d ever been in...but it certainly wasn’t the worst. She headed up the couple of flights of stairs to his apartment, took a deep breath, and knocked sharply on the door. “Christmas-gram!”
Ethan frowned slightly at the door. That...sounded like Lil. But she was in New York. Except..no. There wasn’t any proof that she’d been in New York, she was just on the phone and oh God he felt stupid for falling for all of it.
Sighing, he dragged himself up off the couch and opened the door, blinking sleepily at her. “...what’re you doing here?”
Lillian looked up at him, smiling shyly. She’d done quite a bit of conniving to get here. And as much as she really hated lying at all, she didn’t regret tricking him this time.
“I came to rescue you, silly man. Besides, no one should be spending Christmas by themselves. Or lonely. So.” She tilted her head. “Invite me in or I’ll just walk in anyway?”
“I don’t need rescuing...” he mumbled, thought it was totally true that he did. “Uh. Come on in...if you’re gonna do it anyway.” He grinned a bit and then his brow furrowed. “If I’d known you were coming, I would’ve cleaned up a little...”
The apartment was small, and dim, and a little cluttered, but mostly because it was one room and things do tend to accumulate. “Uhm. Or decorated. Or something.”
Lillian waved her hand. “Not a problem. Don’t worry about it.” She set her bags down and then stood on her toes to hug him hard and kiss his cheek. She didn’t really care how the apartment looked or anything. She’d just wanted to do this for months. “I am so, so, so sorry, Ethan.”
For lots and lots of things, only the more recent of which were his father’s passing and how much time she allowed to pass before she did this.
He returned the hug, resting his chin on the top of her head. “Don’t be sorry, there’s nothing to be sorry for. Stuff just...happens. Happens to everybody.” He shrugged and led her inside.
“I’ve only got the couch...you can move the blanket if you want. Or use it. Whatever.”
She wouldn’t explain just yet that she should have come earlier, she should have decided enough was enough months ago. She came inside, closing the door behind her. “Whichever, it’s okay. I can sleep anywhere. When I actually, you know, do sleep.”
She looked around a little. “Oh, I have a perfect place for the tree. Don’t worry, it’s little and pre-decorated.” Pretty much pre-everything, really. And, in true Lil-manner, she began unpacking her bags. She was a resourceful woman, that much can be said.
“I got in contact with your landlord. The apartment is fine, since you’d never been late with the rent before, you won’t have a problem. Just call him before the first of the year to renew your lease, m’kay?”
...sleep? “Uh. Uh, I mean, all I have is a couch. Like...literally.” God could he be more useless? He didn’t think so. “It doesn’t fold out, it just...sits there.” He didn’t think they would both fit. Maybe he could sleep on the floor...hm.
“You brought a tree? You are the tiniest Santa I have ever met.”
“Ethan. It’s all right. I’m not concentrating on sleeping right this moment. I am thinking that we need a little Christmas, right this very minute. So just sit down and let me give you some Christmas.” She went on, just unpacking and tidying non-chalantly, and setting up the tree, which was not quite as tall as Lillian herself. She plugged it in and grinned. “There, that just brightens things up a bit, don’t you think?” It was silly how a lit up Christmas tree made things feel so much better.
She looked over at him. “Oh, I’m just one of his minions.”
He gave an embarrassed grin. “Yeah, okay.” Still, he worried over things. That was just what he did.
The tree did brighten things up, though to be fair, things were pretty bleak to begin with. “You were on your way that whole time, weren’t you?” Bright guy, that Ethan.