Don't Kill the Magic (Trevor's POV)

"If you want space (you could have it)
If you want change (I'll make it drastic)
Sleep on your bed (I'll be your mattress)
Bullet to my head (you could blast it)
Ohh! If you want love! (I'll be tragic)
The way that you love (I can match it)
If you want time (I'll be elastic)
Tell you no lie (You can have it)
No lieee
Just don't kill, don't kill the magic (ohhh)
Just don't kill, don't kill the magic (ohhh)
I'm not ready to give up just yet
We could stay until we both forget
So baby, don't kill, (don't kill) don't kill the magic (ohhh)" Don't Kill the Magic by Magic!

"Lily, don't ruin the whole weekend because of their problems." I tried to say, but Lily turned away before I finished.

"Lily!" I called after her as she stomped forward. I watched her, hoping she would turn back around. Her figure departed and blended in with the crowd. I started to follow after her, until my phone rang in my pocket. It was Cam.

"Hey, we're at the convention center. Where are you all?" Cam asked over the phone.

"It's just me. I'm almost there." I answered, heading in the opposite direction of Lily.

I just hoped she wasn't so upset that she left the group. I sighed as I rubbed my hand through my hair. This is exactly why I didn't wanna come out here this weekend: problems. I rather it be me and Lily hanging out at my place doing nothing than be in the middle of other people's problem.

After Bilal told me what happen between him and Rocky, I automatically thought about Lily. Even though it had nothing to do with her, she would find a way to make it her problem. She was just sensitive like that.

I brushed those feelings aside to try to be there for Bilal; I could tell he was hurt at the time. It was a week after the super bowl and Rocky stopped all contact with him. She wouldn't even answer his calls. He confessed to me they hooked up when he discovered she blocked his number. I asked him what he thought was going to happen between them. He told me nothing.

Rocky's actions showed Bilal that even though he told her how he felt, she was going to go on like it didn't happen or matter. I felt bad for Bilal, but as bad as I felt for Bilal, I felt worse for Brandon.

I don't even wanna think about Lily cheating on me, but it would be worse if I was in the dark about it. Although, things in the dark seem to always find their way to the light. I told Bilal and Rocky both the hookup wasn't going to stay a secret for long.

Bilal was regretful. He said he just wanted to see Rocky happy and if that wasn't with him, he would deal with it. Brandon wasn't going to find out from him. When I tried to talk to Rocky, she cut me off, defiantly telling me I needed to mind my own business.

That's exactly what I planned to do: Keep me and Lily out of it. Lily kept coming to me, upset about how Rocky was treating her. I didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out Rocky was pushing her problems on Lily. I told Lily not to worry about it, but it became increasingly harder to keep it 'Rocky and Bilal's business' the more Lily complained to me about Rocky.

I thought it was messed up when Rocky sent Lily the picture of me hanging with Becca, but I let it go because that was my screw up. When she started making Lily question and doubt our relationship, that's when she made it 'my business'. As we planned the trip to SXSW, I told Rocky that Lily knew something was going on with her, so she needed to tell the truth or get over it. She chose the latter.

Maybe if she would have answered Bilal's calls, they could have been on the same page and he wouldn't have told Noorie. Regardless, now Lily knew and she was upset, just like I knew she would be. The only question was how mad she was at me for not telling her.

Normally, I would say sorry so we could move on, but I didn't believe I was wrong for not telling her. I stuck by that: yes, secrets eventually come out, but I wasn't going to be the one to tell it. If Bilal wasn't going to tell, how could I? If Lily didn't understand that, we would just have to disagree. As friends, we could disagree, even argue and say stupid thing, apologize and move on. Hopefully, that hasn't changed.

When I escorted Cam, Jenna, Carly and Amanda to our table, I was worried about Lily drastic change of attitude. I was hoping she wasn't still upset, but the last time she had a mood change that extreme was at our birthday party. When she wasn't drinking, I actually relaxed. Maybe she did agree with me...

... I realized how wrong I was when she started mocking being positive. That's when I knew where I screwed up. I should have stuck to it being Rocky and Bilal's problem and not called her negative, but I just wanted her to stop.

It stopped all right. Now she was doing a complete 180°. She was fixing the problem of her being negative by being fake.

When she wasn't running off with Christian, she spent the rest of the day killing me with kindness. At the art gallery, I tried to just apologize for calling her negative, but she was still being unreasonable. Maybe she wasn't yelling or cursing, but she still was trying to pick a fight. I decided to give her space to calm down. I just watched her when she left me again, telling me to figure out what I wanted.

At the Eco Garden, I continued to watch her. Her face lit up as she looked at the different displays. As she hopped across the LED pods with Serena, smiling and talking animatedly, I knew exactly what I wanted.

When she moved to California, I finally figured out I wanted her. It hadn't changed since then; it wasn't going to change now just because we disagreed. I wanted to keep her happy, but I still wanted her when she was upset. She had to know that.

I stood beside her as she took everything in. I wanted to tell her that magic, fairy tales and happy endings might not be real, but I wanted them with her. I believed in them because I felt them with her.

"Makes you want to believe in magic and fairy tales and happy endings huh?" I asked her.

"Kinda." She finally replied.

I smiled as I watched the lights flicker across her dark hair. I pushed a strand out of her face.

"Lilypad-" I started.

"Lily! There you are!" Jordan interrupted me. "Ian and Christian got us wristband passes to a private show tonight." She said, excitedly.

When Lily looked up at me, questioningly, I told her it was her decision. She chose to go to with Jordan.

"Give me a call after the show." I told her before she left. I was disappointed she wasn't coming with me, but at least I knew she wasn't trying to punish me.

Or at least that's what I thought. After the screening of some creepy horror film, I had no missed calls from Lily. After we walked to the food trucks to grab food and drinks, I finally called her. It went straight to voicemail.

The thought of her blocking my number crossed my mind until Cam called her with the same result. We figured her phone must have died so I called Ian next. Same response: straight to voicemail. I called Christian next. It rang before going to voicemail. I called him again. It rang twice before going to voicemail. I gripped my phone tightly, knowing he ignored the call. I didn't even have Jordan's number to call. I had no other choice but to wait.

Carly started complaining when it hit 12:30. I told them to go ahead and leave. I was sticking around until I heard from them.

"No. What if your phone dies next?" Cam pointed out. He was right. I was down to one bar. "C'mon. I'll take you to Bilal's place to pick up Lily's car, then if you have to come back, you can." Cam suggested.

I nodded and we headed out. We dropped the girls off at the hotel before heading to Bilal's place. Cam went inside with me so I could get Bilal to give Christian a call. Bilal got sent to voicemail too.

"I'm sure he just can't hear the call if they went to a concert." Bilal shrugged as he sat down on the couch with Cam. I continued to stand.

"Christian is attached to his phone. He answers it every time it vibrates. You know that's bull." I said, pacing the floor.

"You need to relax. Sit down." Cam suggested.

"You know how she gets when she's mad." I said.

Bilal chuckled. "Yeah, at worst, she's getting drunk, maybe giving a dude a lapdance." Bilal joked.

I didn't know which was worse: watching her puke or give a lapdance to another guy when she had too much to drink. I didn't want a repeat of either since I wasn't around to help her. Especially the lapdance; I knew how good she was at those. The mental pictures of her grinding on any guy the way she danced on me made me see red. I balled up my fist.

"Trevor, calm down. I was joking." Bilal said, quickly.

"It's not funny." I muttered.

"Why is she mad?" Cam asked.

I looked at Bilal. "Good question. Why would you even talk about Rocky around Noorie?"

"Don't put that on me. I told you this was a shitty idea. Now Noorie's pissed at me." Bilal exclaimed

"Now she's mad? Everything was fine before?" I asked.

Bilal shook his head sadly. "Apparently not."

"You want some advice?" Cam said after a moment of silence.

I just looked at him. Bilal shrugged. "I'll take it."

"I don't know what's going on with you and I don't think I want to know." Cam told Bilal before looking at me. "I'm gonna give you the same advice I gave Jake."

"Oh God, please don't. Whatever it was, it didn't work." I said, with a small grin.

"I told him to take it slow." Cam continued, ignoring me.

"It's been 8 years, I don't think it can go much slower than that." Bilal chuckled.

"I'm going to tell you why." Cam said. "I didn't tell Jake, but she went through something when she was 15."

"I know." I nodded, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

"She told you about my dad's business partner?" Cam asked.

I nodded again, not sure how this had anything to do with Lily right now.

"Jenna explained to me how when people go through traumatic experiences, they shut down. I know that's what Lily did. I've talked to her about getting help, but she refuses." Cam explained. I just listened intently. "Until she does, she's just stuck. I think Jenna called it emotionally stunted. She acts and responds to things like a teenager would. She makes everything about her and her feelings."

I sighed. "I see that but what am I supposed to do? She just blows up at me."

"What did you say to set her off?" Cam asked.

"I told her she was negative and jumped to the worst conclusion. That's why Rocky doesn't confide in her." I confessed, guilty.

Bilal shook his head. "That was harsh."

"I know, but she just started yelling and cursing and wouldn't even see my side of things. How can I reason with her when she's like that?" I asked.

"You can't. It's better to let her calm down. Don't try to get her to understand your point. She'll just feel like you're trying to control her or tell her what to do." Cam finished.

My phone finally rang. I saw it was Christian calling me back. I answered it, a mixture of relief, worried that something bad happen and pissed off that he was there with her and I wasn't.

"Where are y'all?" I asked him as soon as I picked up.

"We're still at the concert." I heard Lily respond in an even tone.

I instantly calmed down. She was safe.

"Ok. Do you need a ride to the hotel?" I asked, grabbing Lily's keys, getting ready to go get her.

"I'll drive y'all." I heard Christian offer in the background.

"Christian is gonna drive us. We'll be there soon." I said.

"Alright. Be safe." I replied. I wanted to tell her to wait for me. That if that idiot couldn't even answer his phone, he shouldn't be driving her home, but I was taking Cam's advice. I couldn't tell her what to do. Even if it was right, she'll rebel against it.

"I will." Lily responded before we got off the phone.

Cam and I got ready to go. On my way out, Bilal stopped me.

"I know Lily reminds you of your dad when she starts ranting and raving-"

"She's nothing like my dad." I stopped him.

"That's why I said reminds you." He pressed. "There are going to be arguments and fights, that's part of a relationship. Y'all are going to have to learn how to do that too. She needs to know the yelling and cursing is a trigger for you."

"A trigger huh? That's why you can put up with it and I can't?" I joked.

"I'm in love with a girl nicknamed Rocky. It comes with the territory." He joked back.

"Good luck with that." I said simply, not pointing out the fact he said he was still in love with Rocky. He needed to leave Noorie alone, but that was his business.

We went to back to the hotel. On the way in, I saw Christian coming out.

"Night Cam. I see you in the morning." I said, leaving him to meet Christian.

"Hey Christian!" I called to him as I jogged to catch up.

"Hey man. Lily and Jordan are upstairs in her room. You need the room number? I just tucked them in." He said, with a little smile.

"No man. You did enough. You having problems with receiving calls?" I asked him.

"Naw man, just busy. We called as soon as we saw the calls." Christian smirked.

"Nothing's changed since college. You still need to stay away from her. Even more so now, cause she's my girlfriend." I told him straightforward.

Christian just continued smiling. "No need to be jealous. We're just friends, like we all were in college." He said, patting me on the shoulder before turning to leave. "Besides, it's like she said, you're her boyfriend, not her dad."

"Asshole." I mumbled to myself as he took off.

When I got up to my room, I saw that Lily texted me that she was spending the night in Jordan's room. I texted her back goodnight and I'll see her in the morning. When I woke up, I saw that Lily didn't respond. I showered and got dress before Cam came to my room.

"You talk to Lily?" He asked.

"Through text. You?"

"Yeah, I just saw her. She's still acting childish." Cam informed me.

"So I guess I'm giving her more space." I sighed.

"Up to you. I think I got through to her."

"I'll wait for her to reach out to me." I said, putting my phone away. We went down to breakfast and grabbed some food to go before we headed back to SXSW. There was a panel on computer coding that Cam and I wanted to go to. Afterwards, I saw I had a missed call from Lily. I called her back as we walked to the next demo.

"Hey T-Rev." She said, plainly.

"Hey Lilypad. Have fun last night?" I asked.

"I did. Jordan had too much fun, but she needed it." Lily said, lightly.

"What are y'all doing?"

"I'm actually learning how to hula hoop with Jordan and Christian." She said. I tensed up at the mention of Christian. He needed the asshole poster, not me. I contemplated where he should put it; definitely not the bedroom. I didn't know why Lily said I should put it in mine. Christian should put it on his front door...

"What are y'all doing?" Lily asked me, breaking my thoughts.

"About to go to a 3D printing demo." I told her. "Still time for y'all to join us."

"Does it print food?" Lily asked.

I laughed. "Not yet. By the time we have flying cars, you should be able to print a pizza."

"I'll believe in magic then." She laughed with me.

"I already do." I said.

"I know you do." Lily commented. There was a brief moment of silence before she continued. "I'll let you go. We'll talk when y'all get back."

"Ok."

"Alright. I love you Trevor. Have fun."

"I love you too Lily."