Two Friends Against the World

Note: First story on Reedsy, yay!

Lilien

Lilien Blake paced restlessly in front of rows and rows of Mythian soldiers, smart in their uniforms, ready for battle. As the mayor of Mythia, Lilien’s gift was inspiring people. She gave pep talks to the soldiers before every battle they had. And it turned out it was just what the soldiers needed. So now, minutes before the villages of Mythia and Mallow were set to start fighting a battle (even at war, both villages were very well organized), Lilien was doing exactly that: giving the soldiers a particularly cheerful pep talk.

Everyone loved Lilien, but she loved only one person.

Jon West was Lilien’s fiance. When Lilien proposed to him, they instantly agreed that they would wait to get married until after the war was over, which made the happy couple that much more excited to get it all over with.

Lilien finally finished her speech, which was met with a loud cheer. She pulled Jon to the side, her blue eyes twinkling brightly. “Listen. I don’t think I can wait until the war’s over. You know how long it's gone on for already - it could drag on for years to come, and I can’t stand waiting years before I can marry you. Let’s get married when you return from the battle and not a moment later. What do you say?”

Jon’s reply was quick and impulsive, like almost everything else about him. He smiled the smile that had made Lilien fall for him and said, “A million times yes.”

As they gazed into each other’s eyes, a bell suddenly sounded, signaling the start of the battle.

“See you soon. I love you, my silver lining!” Lilien called to Jon as he started off into battle. 

“And I love you, dearest ray of sunshine!” Jon soon disappeared into the crowd of soldiers and left Lilien with nothing but a dreamy smile on her face.

Bailey

Bailey Ferns was close enough to watch this tender scene, which he did with a twinge in his heart. Of course, he was happy for Lilien. She was his friend, after all. But when he saw those deep blue eyes catching the sunlight, or those locks of glossy oak-brown hair tumbling over her shoulders, or that optimistic smile seeming to illuminate everything around her, Bailey couldn’t help but think Jon must be the luckiest man in the world. 

He had kept this secret for far too long, so long that it wasn’t just an everyday crush anymore. No, Bailey was in love.

Deep, true, head-over-heels love.

Bailey was bursting to confess this to Lilien, but how could he? For one, he was too shy to even hint at it, and to make matters worse he was so nervous around her he could barely get one sentence out without turning crimson and making up an excuse to leave. 

And anyway, he was sure Lilien would turn him down. She was much too in love with Jon to even consider leaving him for Bailey, and Bailey wasn’t sure he could bear to hear Lilien telling him this, however true it may be. 

So, for now, Bailey was stuck admiring Lilien from a distance and repeating her name day and night. Lilien Blake, Lilien Blake, Lilien Blake. The prettiest name in the world.

And when he fought in a battle, it was Lilien he fought for, and Lilien who was in his mind the whole time.

Bailey, two days later

When Bailey received the news from Captain Williams, his first thought was of Lilien. It would destroy her to know it, reduce her to nothing but tears. But how could he not tell her? It impacted her whole life, after all. And he couldn't disobey direct orders to give the news to her. "You're her friend," Captain Williams had said. "The best person for the job."

At least the bad news came with good news. He would break it to her gently. Better for Lilien to learn it now than find it out later. 

Lilien

Meanwhile, Lilien was at her desk, working on a new law for Mythia. Recently, villagers had been complaining that they didn't get enough money when they sold their goods at the outdoor market or in their shops. And if they raised the prices, no one bought anything. Lilien was making a minimum price for every type of food, cloth, instrument, and everything in between so that it wouldn't be as much of a problem. But it was exhausting work. Who knew that fifty-seven different kinds of bread were made in Mythia, and that each one required a different minimum price?

There was a knock on her door. Lilien sighed, dropped her pen, and went to answer it. With any luck, it would be her tailor, here to make adjustments to her wedding dress. Planning a wedding sure was stressful.

To her surprise, it was not her tailor, nor her florist, her fiance, or anyone from work. It was her best friend, Bailey Ferns.

Bailey

Lilien appeared at the door, holding a stack of important-looking documents, her cheeks flushed from the work. To Bailey, she was a vision of perfection. “Come on in,” Lilien said, and looked him over as he followed her inside. He became aware that he was a complete mess. His hair - usually a light golden-brown - was dirty and full of leaves, his clothes were torn, and he had a cut on his cheek that was still bleeding. 

“What happened to you?” Lilien asked, brushing her fingers over Bailey’s cut. Bailey’s heart fluttered, but somehow Lilien’s touch sent an emotion through his body that Bailey was not very familiar with. He realized it was confidence.

“Side effects of battle,” Bailey said with a half-smile. Where did that come from? This was no time for witty remarks. His face grew darker. “Actually, I have good and bad news for you.”

Lilien raised an eyebrow. “Intriguing. Give me the good news first.”

“We won the battle. That’s the good news.”

Lilien’s curious expression turned into one of pure joy. “That’s amazing! I knew we could do it!” Her bright smile slipped a bit when she saw how solemn Bailey looked. “Tell me the bad news.”

Bailey couldn’t do it. He couldn’t break Lilien’s heart. He would have turned around and gone home if Lilien hadn’t grabbed his arm.

“Bailey,” she said, a touch of warning in her voice. “What’s the bad news?”

Here goes nothing, Bailey thought. “I, well, I don’t know how to say this. I guess I’ll just cut to the chase. We won the battle, but… we lost Jon.”

Lilien 

No. No. It can’t be. That was the only thing running through Lilien’s mind. Her face paled, the papers she was holding fell to the floor, and she shook Bailey’s shoulders. “That’s not true. It can’t be true. Come on, Bailey. You’re pulling a prank on me. Is it April 1st? You can say ‘April Fools’ now.”

Lilien knew April 1st had been over a month ago. “I’m so, so sorry,” Bailey said.

A tear rolled down Lilien’s cheek, and she collapsed onto a cushioned chair in her living room. Bailey crouched next to her as she sobbed into a pillow. 

“It was brave,” Bailey said, apparently trying to comfort Lilien. “Heroic, even. Jon led the enemy soldiers away while the rest of us invaded. He was killed almost instantly when a Mallow soldier pierced his chest with a sword. We don’t know who did it. But Jon lived and died fighting for Mythia.”

“I don’t care how he died,” she said. “What matters is that a good, kind, brave, funny man is no longer in the world.”

Bailey was silent for a few moments. “You dropped your papers,” he said finally, gesturing at the mess of documents a few feet away. It would probably take forever to reorganize.

Bailey’s words only made Lilien collapse into tears again. “I never really wanted to be mayor,” she confessed. “I only did it to make my parents proud. I - I wanted to be a baker.”

“Why don’t you? You can quit your position - open a bakery. I’ve eaten what you’ve baked before. I know you’d be an excellent baker.” He smiled encouragingly.

Lilien sniffled and looked at Bailey, clutching the pillow to her chest. “Where did this new version of you come from? I’ve always known you to be really shy around me, which doesn’t surprise me.”

Bailey

Bailey looked at his feet. His shyness had returned the moment Lilien had pointed out its absence. But something else Lilien had said didn’t seem to make sense. 

“Wait - why did you say it didn’t surprise you?” he asked.

“What?”

“Y-you said you’d always known me to be shy, which didn’t surprise you. What’s that supposed to mean?”

Lilien looked guilty. “Did I say that?”

If Bailey had glasses, he would have glared at Lilien over the top of them. As it was, he just glared at her. “You know what you said.”

Lilien sighed. “I was referring to the fact that since you like me, it’s no surprise that you’re so nervous around me.”

“W-what? How do you know?” Bailey asked.

Lilien didn't smile, but she looked a little amused. “It’s not hard to figure it out. The way you blush whenever I even look at you, the way you can’t seem to get out a full sentence around me. I know you're not just socially awkward because I’ve seen you laughing and talking easily with our other friends, when I’m not in your line of sight. It’s obvious, really, once you think about it,” she said.

True to what Lilien had said, Bailey turned as red as the ink Lilien sometimes used to correct mistakes in documents. He took a few steps backwards and didn't say anything for a long time. He finally muttered something under his breath.

“What was that?” Lilien asked.

“I said, you’re wrong. I don’t like you, Lilien, I love you. And I - I know you’ll never love me back, not for a long time, but I just had to say it.”

Lilien

Lilien felt bad for Bailey, she really did. But she couldn’t love him, not now and probably not ever. “I’m sorry, Bailey,” Lilien said quietly. “But you’re right. I need time. Just - just leave me alone.” She started to cry again.

Bailey walked over to Lilien and took her by the hand. “No. No, I won’t leave you alone. Lilien, you already know my mother passed away when I was eight. But what you don’t know is that for the first few days, I shut everybody out. I stayed in my room and only came out when I absolutely needed to. I didn’t talk to anyone. I just cried. I never felt any better until someone talked to me. And neither will you.”

Lilien suddenly felt an inexplicable anger towards Bailey. “You can’t help me. You’re probably thrilled that Jon’s dead. Now you can have me all to yourself.”

Bailey’s face grew even sadder, if that was possible. “That’s not fair. I was just as sad as you were that Jon died. Just not for the same reason. I felt horrible when I told you. It breaks my heart to see yours broken.”

Lilien started to search for arguments to hide the fact that she didn’t actually have a good reason to shut Bailey out. She finally settled on the one thing Bailey couldn’t deny. “Exactly. You’re in love with me,” she said. “I do not need you admiring me and waiting for me to love you back when my fiance just died!”

“How about this,” Bailey said calmly. “I’ll try as hard as I can to not act like a suitor, just like a friend. Don’t try to pretend you don’t need a friend. We all do. If I’ll be your good friend, and nothing more, will you let me comfort you?”

“Well…” Lilien considered the offer. “Fine, I guess. What are you planning on doing?” 

Bailey smiled. “I was thinking we’d bake brownies together.”

Bailey & Lilien

And that was exactly what they did. Bailey told Lilien jokes until she almost forgot about Jon, and Lilien talked to Bailey about her plans for the bakery until he almost forgot he had ever thought of her as anything other than a friend. By the time the brownies were cooled and ready to eat, they were laughing and chatting like old times.

“Well,” Bailey said finally, as he ate his brownie, “I think this was the best idea I’ve ever had.”

“I agree,” Lilien said.

"These are also the best brownies I've ever had. You'd better include these on the menu when you open your bakery."

And though neither of them would ever forget what happened that day, they were able to distract each other from their worries. Just two friends against the world.