Worth It (A Chris Evans Story)

Chapter 17: Red flag

The next morning when Lily woke up, instead of screwing her eyes shut at the light shining through the gaps in her curtains, she welcomed it. Her entire body felt warm and she already had a smile on her face. Last night something had just clicked for her and it was like she had been engulfed in this fog for five years and now she could finally see clearly again. And she could see Jack for who he really was.

She has no idea how it took her this long to figure out he was no good. Clearly he had conditioned her into thinking she couldn't survive without him. But last night when he walked out of those doors, she felt different, she didn't feel this pull to him anymore. He left and she was okay, she hadn't fallen apart and she didn't even feel like any part of her missed him.

Obviously she still felt love for him, but every time she thought of the good times he had provided her, her brain reminded her of the bad times, the ones she hadn't even really noticed before.

Like when Jack would pick out her outfits for her and tell her to change if he thought something was too revealing. Or how he would always check her messages before she even had the chance. How he would call and text her constantly while she was out with her friends, asking her to come home. She used to think it was sweet how he wanted to spend time with her, but now she realises that all things she thought were sweet were actually controlling.

Her family had been right all along about Jack and that made her feel like shit after what she said to them. How could she have put him before the people who actually cared about her?

She rolled over and grabbed her phone from the nightstand, noticing several missed calls from Jack. She just rolled her eyes and deleted the notifications before she got out of bed and headed downstairs, Wolf following closely behind her.

About half an hour later Lily was sat at her kitchen table eating breakfast before she had to start getting ready for Ash picking her up. Just as she placed her dishes in the sink she heard the front door open and close. She rolled her eyes as she remembered the key she gave Jack. For fuck sake Lily. As much as she was starting to see Jack clearly for the first time, she still wasn't sure she was ready to face him just yet. She was certainly glad he never wanted to fully move in together, another red flag.

"Lil?" Jack called out as she heard his footsteps get closer to the kitchen. When he appeared in the doorway she noticed he was carrying a bouquet of roses. She hates roses. It just made her roll her eyes internally, yet another red flag to mark down.

"Hey baby" he smiled as he entered the kitchen, "I got you these, I wanted to apologise for last night" he held the roses out in her direction, but Lily just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest.

"Roses?" she asked.

"Yeah your favourite" Wrong.

"Daisies are my favourite" she corrected as she gave him a hard stare.

"Oh yeah same thing" he shrugged as he placed the flowers on the counter top in front of him.

"Not the same thing"

"Okay look I'm sorry, can we just forget about last night? Why don't I take you to lunch?" he asked, clearly he was getting irritated, usually she would have rolled over and given him whatever he wanted by now.

"No Jack we can't, I'm sick of you blaming me for your shitty behaviour"

"Lily you're overreacting again" he said as he raised his hands in defence.

"No I am fucking not" she raised her voice slightly, then she watched as Jack raised his hand to grip the back of his neck in annoyance, as he did he pushed the collar of his jacket down and that's when she saw it.