"Ray, please," (y/n) said over the phone.

A minute ago, I got a call from (y/n) saying that she had an emergency and needed someone to babysit Lily, her younger sister, for the night. I asked her about (f/n), but apparently, she was busy that day. And I was the only person Lily knew in our friend group.

I sighed. "Fine, but you owe me."

"Yes! Thank you, Ray," she answered, quickly declining. I told my mom that I'll be home tomorrow and swiftly changed into something comfortable. I brought out an old bag and filled it with stuff kids like, such as cupcakes.

I remembered (y/n)'s house and started walking there. Once I came, I rang the doorbell and she answered it.

"Hi, again thank you, you're a lifesaver. Here come on inside," she said opening the door.

Strangely, she was in an evening gown. "You look nice." I complimented her.

She smiled in gratitude. "Thanks."

"Lily! Ray's gonna be your caretaker today!" she yelled from downstairs. I heard her come down.

"Ray!" she said as she ran to me. "You came back!"

She hugged my waist. I have no idea why Lily's so attached to me. "Yeah, and I brought stuff, too."

Lily stayed hugging my leg as I talked with (y/n) who was running around her house.

"So your emergency, was a party?" I asked.

"Technically, yes, it's for a meeting for our family's company," she explained. "Since I'm of proper age now, I have to attend in my parent's and sister's place."

"I see," I replied. "Well have fun."

"See you later! And good luck!" she said leaving through the door.

"So Lily, you're the boss," I said. "What do you wanna do first?"

She shrugged as she looked at what's in my bag. I glanced at my watch and it was currently 5:30 pm. "Do you want a snack? I brought some cupcakes."

She nodded. "What flavor?"

"Red velvet," I answered, grabbing the clear container. "I baked them last night for my mom. She loves them."

I gave the box to her and she took my hand. Lily led me to the kitchen where we sat down. She ran to the cabinets and I watched as she opened the door. I tried not to laugh as she started jumping multiple times to get a glass. "Ray, I need help please," she said.

"Alright, I'm coming," I said walking to where she was. "What glass do you want?"

"The one with the yellow flowers," she stated, pointing at it. I grabbed it and handed it to her. She proceeded to open her fridge to get a carton of milk, which I helped her with too.

"Do you want a glass too?" she asked.

"Sure," I said, grabbing one for myself. I helped pour milk into her glass and poured myself. We ate our cupcakes.

"This is good," Lily said. "My mom likes red velvet, too. If you make it, she'll probably like you as well."

"Then I'm sure I'll find time to," I replied. "Well, what should we do next?"

She shrugged and made an I-don't-know expression. I thought she'd be decisive since most kids are at her age."'You still need to prove yourself worthy so you're picking."

I chuckled. "Alright. It's only 5:45, so do you want to go to the arcade?"

Lily nodded happily. "Yes, please! I have only been there twice, once on my friend's birthday, and the other on a classmate's birthday, but that was embarrassing."

I cleaned her plates as she spoke. "Okay, once I finish the dishes we can go there."

A few minutes later, Lily held my hand and we walked to the arcade. It was the same one the student council goes to every so often on the weekends. We opened the doors and were met with purple lights and running children.

"Wait here while I buy some tokens, okay?" I told her.

"But what if I get kidnapped?!" she asked frantically, surveying the number of people.

"Right, sorry. If someone lays a hand on you, just dropkick them," I said. That was probably one of the worst pieces of advice I had ever given.

"I'll try," she said agreeing. Now I hope that no one tries to even stand next to her. Once I got my tokens I took her hand and led her to the games. "Which one do you want to try?"

Lily immediately ran to the one at the very top right. "This one," she answered, pointing at it.

"Dance Dance Revolution," I read slowly. "Are you sure? It's a little hard, even for me."

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. She really looks a lot like her sister when she does that. "Well you're just a peasant so obviously it would be hard for you. And yeah, I'm sure."

"Suit yourself, but don't say I didn't warn you," I answered. I gave her two tokens for one game. I must have ticked her off because she instantly picked the most difficult level.

I stood by the side as watched as Lily took a deep breath and started.

She was good. Really good in fact. Probably better than Emma, and that's saying something. She didn't miss a single step, and got all "Perfects" and "Marvelous."

When the song ended, in only one turn, she beat the highest score and made it to 1st place on the leaderboard. "See? I told you I'm sure."

"I renounce my claim then," I said as she stepped off. "Renounce means I'm sorry, by the way."

"I know what renounce means already," Lily said marching to me. "I'm not dumb you know." I raised both hands in apology.

"Let's try one together," she added, leading me onto the platform. She was busy picking another song. Since I was her babysitter, I was supposed to do whatever she wanted to do.

"Alright, Player 1," I agreed. Dance Dance Revolution wasn't that difficult if you know what you are doing. For example, I watched Emma and Norman always play it while growing up. I myself sometimes played with them, and all of us always appeared in the top 5 of the leaderboard, just to be beaten by a dessert-loving, 8-year-old.

The music started and we concentrated on not missing a beat. I remember playing this level in the summer of freshman year, at Don's birthday party. I thought it was a little childish, having his celebration at the arcade. But I'm glad I tried it because if I didn't, Lily would probably lecture me on not doing it perfectly, and I wanted to get back on her good side. She and (y/n) are exactly the same sometimes.

We finished the song at a whopping 9,456,389 points. Lily let out a ginormous breath. "Ray, I'm tired, can we rest for a bit?"

I nodded. "Yeah sure, I'm pooped as well."

We stepped off the platform. I'm so scared for the next student council meeting when Emma discovers someone by the name "Lilypad415" took 1st place.

After we rested by the tables, Lily begged me to win her a prize. I stood up and she led me to this shooting game, in which you have to snipe as many targets as you can. She wanted this yellow star plush, so of course, I had to try it.

A few minutes later, I was able to win the star, and a lot more stuffed animals later. When we left the arcade, we came home with also a dolphin, a sea turtle, and a giraffe. At least she doesn't seem mad at me anymore.

"You're almost as good as (y/n) in sniping," Lily said, her arms full of prizes. "When she brings me there, she could clear the whole lot and the foreman would tell us to leave some toys for the other kids."

"We should try laser-tag together then," I replied as Lily then started telling me about this one guy from this show she loves. Some white-haired guy with lightning powers.

It was now at 7 o'clock. I didn't realize we spent almost an hour and a half at the arcade.

"Lily, go ahead and change," I instructed. "I'm going to make some food."

"We have a frozen pizza, if you want that," she answered, opening the fridge. She walked up her stairs to get ready for dinner.

I quickly opened the frosty pizza box and followed the instructions. (y/n)'s oven was the kind professional chefs at the Food Network use, so I took some time trying to get used to it. When I finally got the appliance to work, I preheated it and waited.

Lily came down in a purple flower onesie with a hood. She also came down with a bracelet with blue beads. "Here, this is for you. I have one and (y/n) has one too."

"What is it?" I asked her. She cocked her head.

"It's a friendship bracelet, obviously," Lily answered. "Because you're my friend."

I genuinely smiled back.

"While our dinner is baking, can we watch a movie?" she then asked.

Her bedtime is probably 9:00, or 9:30, so we had enough time. "Sure, what do you wanna watch?" I asked her.

Lily was already clicking through the multiple movies. "Umm, let's watch, this one."

"The Tale of Despereaux," I read. "Oh, I think I've heard of this."

"Yeah, I read it during Christmas Break," she answered, playing the movie. "Have you ever read it?"

I nodded. "When I was younger," I replied. She didn't answer, because she was already absorbed in the movie.

I didn't watch a lot of shows or had a lot of free time when I was her age. Usually, I spent my days helping mom.

I guess that's where I have to be thankful for my overprotective mother. Lily's parents almost always go on business trips, so (y/n) has to take responsibility.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I almost forgot to check the pizza. I walked to the kitchen, and it was ready. "Lily, dinner's ready!"

She paused the movie and walked swiftly. "That smells good."

I looked at her like it was obvious. "Well duh, it's pizza."

"I know it's pizza, moron. But it smells better than it usually does," she argued.

"Oh then that's probably because I added a secret ingredient," I said. I didn't really, I just baked it according to the instructions.

"That makes sense," she answered, believing my small white lie. We blew on the pizza since it just came out of the oven and ate.

"What brand is this?" I asked, munching on my slice. "This is good."

She shrugged. "Ask (y/n), she usually goes out for groceries."

I nodded even though I wasn't going to attempt that. Talking with (y/n) is scary just thinking about it.

"Speaking of (y/n), are you in love with her?" Lily asked. I choked on a piece of crust and quickly drank some water. She propped her head with her hand.

"Uh, why do you think that?" I inquired her. She made a thinking face.

"Because of how you act with her," she replied, matter-of-factly. "It's like teasing, but in a more playful way.

The kid's way smarter than I thought.

"So are you in love with her?" she asked again.

"I don't, know," I answered truthfully. Sometimes I feel like I do, and other times I don't. "Your sister is an interesting person, to say the least."

"It's ok if you do have feelings for her," she said smiling. "Because then we can see you more often."

"Is that so?" I asked quietly.

"Yep!" Lily answered, dragging me to the couch once more. "I'm full now, so let's finish our movie."

I held out a hand, signaling her to wait. "You can unpause it, I'm just going to finish washing the dishes."

She yelled "Okay!" from the living room. As I poured some soap on the two plates and pizza cutter we used, my cheeks still felt warm.

In love with (y/n)? That's one of the craziest things I've heard. Sure I ballroom danced with her, sang with her, embraced her, and even kissed her, but infatuated with her?

I couldn't even answer the question Lily asked. We're literal rivals, trying to one-up each other, but at the same time, we're also friends. And besides friends, we see each other a lot after school.

We still have a silent agreement to never bring up stuff that happened between us, just to keep the status quo. So even if I did have feelings for her, we wouldn't be able to become an item, because it would all become complicated after that.

Once I finished cleaning and placing the dishes in the dishwasher, I came back to Lily. We quietly watched the movie.

"Ray can I do your hair?" she asked out of nowhere. "I wanna see what your face looks like behind your bangs."

There was a study that people are more honest at night, or when they're sleepy. Was Lily thinking about that the whole time?

I shook my head and looked back to the television. "Please?" she asked.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I hated it when people wanted to style my hair, even with my mom, because it would always go back to its original position. "Alright just for today."

She clapped her hands happily and went upstairs as the movie still played. She came down with a hairbrush, hair tie, and a clip. "Turn your head," she commanded.

Lily crouched behind me and I felt her touch my hair. "It's like a blanket," she whispered.

"You know, you're gonna end up blind if you keep your hair covering your eye" she said, brushing my hair. I felt her put a ponytail on the back of my head. Lily then put a blue hair clip securing it in place.

"There, I finished," Lily said. "Do you like it?"

I moved the little ponytail around my shoulder. "Yeah, it's actually nice," I said honestly. It was.

I gave her a high-five as a reward. She enthusiastically returned it.

"You know that bracelet I gave you earlier?" she asked. I nodded and showed that it was currently on my wrist. "It's a sign of approval. Congratulations, Ray, you proved your worth."

I should not feel as proud as I did. "Wait, really?!" I said as she yawned and her eyes close every so often.

She nodded. "You should go to sleep now," I advised her. She shook her head quickly, trying to keep herself awake.

"No, I'm fine," she answered as she was literally drooping her head.

Twenty-minutes later, while Lily was half-asleep, she asked,

"Can you and (y/n) get married?" she said sleepily.

That got me awake. "Why would you want that?" I replied. She turned to me and I could see the tiredness in her eyes.

"Because then I can eat your cookies all day, and because, (y/n) she, she has-" Sleep took over her and I felt her head thump on my shoulder.

I wanted to know what she was about to say. But I guess those are the things that are better left unsaid.

"Sure we'll get married, and I'll make sure to invite you to our wedding," I answered her, thinking that she wasn't listening. But she was, for I could see her smile widen. Someone protect this child at all costs.

I smiled. Lily was like if (y/n) wasn't so pissed off at me every time. I patted her head as she silently slept through the movie. I was unable to move because I didn't want to wake her up.

Once the movie ended, I turned the TV off, and sleep started to overtake me as well. Before I knew it, I was in a deep slumber on the couch, and I didn't even care if a sleeping child was on my entire right arm. For it was just me, a lowly prince, and Lily, a little princess.

That was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences ever. I talked and shook hands with almost twenty-three different people I never met before. I took a ride home.

It was 11 am. I opened the door with my house keys and right when I entered the foyer I kicked off my shoes, too tired to even put them away properly. I was about to cross the living room to get a drink of water, but a certain sight stopped me.

I had to take a picture. It was Ray drooped over the couch with a little ponytail. His bangs flopped over the top of his head so I was able to see his whole entire face. He was kinda cute like that, I had to admit.

And Lily, my precious little sister was literally sleeping on his shoulder, covering his whole arm.

This was way too adorable. I can't wait to tease Ray when he wakes up.