A/N: I've had this idea for a while that Lilly and Oliver had to at least be attempting to keep their relationship a secret before Miley found out about them, just because they wouldn't want anyone else to tell Miley before they did. Out of that idea, came the one that they would have to tell their parents at some point. And I kind of wondered how that would go down. This would be the random story that resulted from that line of thought. It'll be in two parts, although I don't know when I'm going to get the chance to post the second part cause I'm going to be pretty busy. So, I apologize if you guys end up waiting a while for it.
***
Miley twirled a strand of hair around her finger as Lilly talked. There was a part of her that was listening intently to what the petite blond was saying, but another part of her was trying to decide how she wanted to style her hair tomorrow for school. It wasn't as curly as it used to be, but she was done trying to keep it stick straight too. There were a few highlights in it that she liked to keep up. Maybe it was because she had grown so used to wearing the blond wig when she was Hannah or something, but she kind of liked the lighter strands streaking the dark brown.
Maybe she would go for one of those over the shoulder, really loose braids. You could see all of the separate colors when her hair caught the light just right. Or maybe she would try to keep a little more of the curl in it and let it all hang down. It was kind of nice to have her hair all unruly and wild and half way down her back. Or maybe-
Wait. What was Lilly saying? Something about a barbecue? Who was having a barbecue? So much for the listening intently.
"So, you'll come, right?" Lilly asked.
She was laying on her stomach on Miley's bed, a few magazines spread out in front of her, and she knew Miley hadn't been listening to a word she said, but she was hoping her friend would just agree. It would probably be a whole lot easier if she agreed without realizing just what it was she was agreeing to.
"Come where?" Miley asked, dropping the hair she had been twirling and sitting up on the bed to look Lilly in the eye better. She knew she should have been paying attention.
"To the dinner party." Lilly gave the answer without actually offering up any details.
"What dinner party?" Miley asked, narrowing her eyes and preparing to grit her teeth. She knew her best friend was avoiding mentioning the important parts here. Miley did the same thing when she wanted something.
"The big dinner that the Okens are having this weekend." Lilly sighed, then spilled her whole story over again, her feet still kicking back and forth nervously in the air behind her. "Mr. Oken is going to grill up a bunch of food for Owen's birthday dinner but no family's coming so he invited me and my brother and then Mrs. Oken invited my mom and Oliver and I were thinking that once Owen is full of cake and off being crazy he and I could tell our parents that we're dating now." It was one long run-on sentence with no pauses for breath, so Lilly found herself sucking in air when she was done.
"Wait a minute." Miley held up a hand. "You're going to tell your parents that you're dating on his little brother's birthday?"
"No, no. Technically, it's not his birthday. His birthday is tomorrow, but they were planning on having a big family dinner Saturday. But, it turns out no one can come into town. Which is why my mom was invited in the first place. She doesn't really do birthday dinners for the kids anymore. But, my brother and I were already gonna go anyway. And it's more like an informal get-together really. Not a birthday party. So, see, it isn't really his birthday." Lilly's forehead wrinkled up as she spoke, realizing this idea might not have been the best one.
"And how do your parents not know you two are dating?" Miley asked loudly, throwing her hands up in the air.
"We-ell..." Lilly shrugged helplessly before she sat up as well. "We've just never really got around to telling them." Miley gave her a look and she shrugged again. "Okay, so I thought that if we told them, then we wouldn't be able to hang out as much without," Lilly brought her fingers up into the air to form quotes around the words, "parental supervision."
Miley gave a small nod of agreement. "Yeah, I can see that... but why do I have to go?" When her voice went up at the end of the question, there was a bit of a whine in it.
Lilly hardened her gaze on Miley and crossed her arms. "I was hoping that as our best friend you would be there to support us." She paused and her stare intensified. "Besides, you owe me for being responsible for Thor's trip to doggy heaven."
"You're really going to play the dead dog card on this one?" Miley asked flatly. "It was an accident. I didn't know he was allergic to carrots!" Miley's eyes were wide, and she really did seem sorry. "And I made sure he had a nice memorial service," she nodded thoughtfully.
Lilly just sighed, trying to sweep aside the fact that she missed her dog, and asked, "How come you never want to do anything with Oliver's family?"
"I don't think his mom likes me very much," Miley mumbled.
"I bet she likes you a whole lot more when she finds out you're the friend who isn't trying to get in her son's pants," Lilly pointed out with a smile.
Miley grabbed a pillow from behind her and chucked it at her friend as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Ew! Lilly! If you promise to not ever talk about getting in Oliver's pants again, I'll go!"
At first, she agreed, but then Lilly held the pillow in one hand while she thought aloud, "don't normal girls talk about their boyfriends and their pants though?"
"Yes," Miley agreed, snatching the pillow back from her, "but you guys are practically family, and I don't really want to think about anything that could be going on with you and him in – or out – of his pants. Or yours either."
"Alright, deal," Lilly agreed, sure that everything would work out just fine now that Miley was on board. Their plans might have usually gone awry, but this, this was going to be a simple and straightforward discussion with parents. Nothing could possibly go wrong, right?
***
When Saturday came, Lilly wasn't as relaxed or as self assured as she had been the days before. In fact, her anxiety had been steadily increasing since Miley had agreed to come to the party. She knew that the Okens had always been nice to her, had pretty much let her have the run of their house, treated her like a member of the family, but she was afraid all of that was going to change the moment they found out that giving her the run of the house also meant that she had been alone in that house with their son... sometimes wearing less clothing than would be appropriate and sometimes engaging in activities that they would definitely not find appropriate.
To put it plainly, she was terrified that Mrs. Oken and all of her interrogation techniques were going to be unleashed on her, and that the detective would not find her worthy of Oliver's affections. Mr. Oken would be easy to win over. Actually, she was pretty sure Mr. Oken had been won over a long time ago and he had just been waiting for the rest of them to see the light. He had always been making cryptic comments about his son, and his son's best friend... and even some not so cryptic comments.
After showering, straightening her hair, eating brunch, and wrapping Owen's birthday present, the knot in her stomach had grown to about twice its normal nervous size. She looked out her window, wrapped in a bathrobe, to see Oliver helping his Dad drag a picnic table to the middle of the backyard. There was a very large pregnant woman sitting in a wrought iron chair at a matching table on the grass as well. A woman Lilly knew was definitely not Mrs. Oken, but she looked a little familiar all the same.
Apparently, some of the family had decided to come after all.
Lilly only had one decision to make. She called for backup. Twenty minutes later, Miley was lounging on her bed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. She had taken Lilly's instructions to "dress casual" very seriously. Lilly was standing in front of her closet with a look of utter panic on her face. A quick glance at Miley and she started pacing.
"Lilly, you have got to relax. You're telling them you're dating, not that you're pregnant." Miley paused and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You're not pregnant, are you?"
"Miley!"
"What?! I had to ask. You look like you're about to barf up all your breakfast over there." She rolled onto her stomach and continued to watch Lilly pace.
"Not that it's any of your business since you said you didn't want to talk about it, but I am most definitely not pregnant, okay?"
"Okay, then like I said, relax."
But she didn't relax. Lilly stood still though, staring at the contents of her closet. It occurred to her that the only times she ever worried quite this much about what she was wearing all involved Oliver. This didn't really seem to bode well for her current state of mind.
"I'm going to wear a dress." She nodded her head decisively and started thumbing through clothes, pushing hangers aside until she reached her selection of dresses.
"A dress? Lilly! You said casual!" Miley protested, jumping to her feet and moving to help.
"I know..." Lilly trailed off as she flicked by a long turquoise dress. Too formal. Then, a purple cocktail dress. Again, too formal. When had she ever worn that? "I have all of these sun dresses though from that trip to Tennessee..." She ran her fingers nervously though her hair, trying to rid it of imaginary tangles.
"Well," Miley agreed, "it is pretty hot out, and that wouldn't look too much like you were trying to impress anybody..."
"Good, okay, we agree." Lilly nodded again, fanning herself with her hand. Color was beginning to return to her cheeks at a rapid pace.
"Why don't you sit down," Miley guided her over to the bed as she spoke, "before you pass out or something, and I'll show you the dresses."
"Okay." The reply was quiet, but Lilly did as she was told, sitting on the edge of the bed, her hand wrapped around one of the posts. She was feeling a little faint.
"I don't know why you're so nervous. It's not like you have to make a good first impression. Oliver's parents already love you," Miley muttered, pulling out a dark green halter top dress that looked like it would reach to Lilly's mid thigh. "How about this?"
"Too short."
"Okay." Miley returned the dress to the closet and looked for longer ones. "This?" It was an ankle length strapless dress in a dark pink.
"That's your's. And it's too long for me. I'd have to wear heels."
A black spaghetti strap was deemed too sexy. A blue peasant top with a flowing skirt was decidedly too girly. The purple dress with the flowers was too beachy. And then the purple one with the polka dots was too Lola. The white one with the scalloped edges was too innocent, so too suspicious. And the red with the extremely fitted waist was too clingy.
"Lilly, we're running out of dresses here. You want to go over to my place and raid the Hannah closet?"
"No, those'll be too rockstar. I just want to be normal Lilly... in a dress." Her voice was taking on the high pitch she got when too excited or nervous, and she flopped back onto the bed in an effort to calm herself.
"I don't think normal Lilly wears too many dresses," Miley hissed into the closet, low enough that the girl freaking out on the bed couldn't hear her. She fingered the material of the last one in the closet. She could imagine all of Lilly's reactions to it already.
The neckline was v-shaped, and would provide just a hint of cleavage. The bodice area did look like it would be pretty snug though, so it might cause more than just a hint. Lilly was probably going to say it was too much skin and too much like a second skin. It was a cream color, so it was probably too easy to get dirty. And there were little yellow flowers on it. Were flowers too girly or too beachy? Miley couldn't remember. And yellow. Was yellow going to be a problem? Was it too sunny? The dress looked thin, but it had a double layer of fabric, so she couldn't complain about the possibility of it being see-through. But the hemline looked like it would hit the knee. Was that going to be too short? Apparently the Lilly who was going to meet her boyfriend's parents was really worried about looking too skanky, even though they had already seen her in the miniest of mini skirts. The straps were thin, but at least it had straps. The skirt was "flowy" enough to make the dress look looser than it actually was, unless of course she thought that made it too hippie. And there were about a million buttons down the back instead of a zipper or the dress just being easily slipped over the head. Lilly didn't like lots of buttons. Lola thought buttons made a statement, but Lilly thought they were overrated.
Miley sighed. It was the last dress. Lilly had to like it. Otherwise they were going to have to go shopping. She pulled the hanger from the closet and turned to face Lilly.
"What about this?"
Lilly sat back up on the bed. Her eyes were wide and she looked like she was going to crack at any minute.
"Perfect."
A smile broke out over her face and Miley couldn't have been more relieved. Lilly's skin tone was going back to normal now that the wardrobe emergency was fixed. She wasn't nervously running her hands though her hair anymore either. She looked more excited than anxiety ridden. Which had to be a good sign.
A few hours later and Miley was sick of the excited and jumpy Lilly too. She finally gave in and told Lilly they should head next door early, see if the Okens needed help with anything. If it was possible, Lilly's cheeks turned even pinker than they had been before and she began to talk even faster.
"Lilly," Miley asked her as they headed downstairs, "am I going to have to get you a tranquilizer or something?"
"No!" She stopped on the bottom step, took a few deep breaths and appeared to center herself. "Okay, I'm good. Let's go."
Instead of leading Miley through her own front door and across the driveway to the Oken's front door though, Lilly headed into the kitchen, grabbing a large plastic container from the counter, before going out the back door.
"What's that?"
"Cookies."
Miley narrowed her eyes a bit before asking, "Isn't Owen's present in that gift bag?" She gestured to the bright green bag whose handle was looped around Lilly's wrist.
"Ye-es."
"Then who are the cookies for?"
"Whoever wants them." Lilly took a few steps out on the grass, and Miley followed her.
"Are these cookies your way of buttering up his parents?" Miley asked shrewdly, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder and wishing she would have worn it up. The heat was pretty stifling.
"No, I just thought it would be nice," Lilly informed her primly, lifting a sandaled foot to step neatly over an anthill instead of going around it.
"Uh huh."
The two girls looked at one another for a second, just at the edge of the grass that turned into the Oken family's backyard.
"Fine," Lilly admitted, "I just want them to like me."
"They already like you!" Miley reminded her. Lilly's worrying was beginning to make her worry. What if their parents weren't happy about this? How was Lilly going to react?
"Who already likes you?" Oliver had appeared out of nowhere, a few pieces of crumpled up newspaper in one hand and a bottle of lighter fluid in the other. He went to give Lilly a kiss but Miley cleared her throat pointedly and he glanced swiftly back at the house before deciding against it.
"It doesn't matter," Lilly told him, the smile on her face more genuine now than it had been all day. She surveyed his bright green apron, almost as bright as the gift bag she was carrying, that he had on over his clothes. "Why are you wearing that?"
"Apparently it's flame resistant. My dad doesn't want me to burn myself while I'm lighting the grill for him."
"Why isn't your dad just doing it himself then?" Miley asked, eyebrows raised.
Oliver hesitated before saying, "he had to run to the store real quick." He looked away from Lilly when he mumbled the next sentence. "My cousin dropped a bunch of the hamburger meat on the floor."
The mumbling didn't stop Lilly from hearing him though.
"Your cousin?" She gave a very small "eep" as the word sunk in.
"I thought your family couldn't make it," Miley remarked.
"Yeah, that's what everybody said, but my dad's sisters showed up with their kids this morning. And one of my mom's sisters is going to try and make it too." Oliver shrugged, then eyed Lilly apprehensively. She was grinding her teeth and her face was ashen again. "Are you okay?"
"She's fine," Miley told him, patting Lilly slightly on the arm. "Where do you want us to put your brother's presents?"
"Inside on the dining room table's fine."
"Okay, you just go and... light stuff on fire."
Miley grabbed Lilly's arm and practically dragged her into the house. The back door led them into the kitchen, just like at Lilly's house, and there was Nancy Oken, slicing up ripe tomatoes while the very pregnant woman Lilly saw earlier sat on a stool at the kitchen island eating a bowl of grapes.
As the door clicked shut behind them, both women turned to look right at them.
"Oh, my goodness! Lilly Truscott, is that you?" The pregnant woman made an attempt to slide off the stool, one hand on her own lower back for support.
"Uh, yes, but you don't have to get up," Lilly told her, rushing forward, though she wasn't entirely sure who this woman was.
"I haven't seen you since you were about six! Ten years goes by pretty fast, doesn't it?"
"I guess." Lilly shot a quick look over at Miley for help, but the other girl just shrugged. She hadn't known the Okens as long as Lilly, and she hadn't met any of the extended family before.
"It's me." The woman gestured to herself, and Lilly took in the long, straight dark hair, the dark eyes, and the ears that had earrings working from the lobe all the way up to the top. There was something sparking at the back of Lilly's mind, but she still couldn't place her. "You probably don't remember me. I mean, I wasn't pregnant the last time you saw me. Or divorced," she added, flashing the hand where there was a tan line from a wedding ring. "Maybe I need to teach you how to climb up the side of the house again?"
The woman gave her a wink and the image clicked.
"Oh my god! Aunt Opal!" Lilly grinned when it hit her. Opal Oken had always been one of her favorite people to see when she was little. She used to follow her around whenever she came to visit the Okens. "Oh my god! You're having a baby!" Lilly set her gift bag and tupperware on the counter, throwing her arms around the woman excitedly.
"I know! It's crazy, right? Actually, I already have one. He's six."
"I completely forgot that you got married," Lilly told her as she pulled away, then remembered her manners. "This is my friend, Miley."
"It's nice to meet you," Miley said, shaking the woman's hand awkwardly.
"The girl from Tennessee, right?" Opal asked.
"Yeah..." Miley nodded, again awkwardly. She wasn't sure what, if anything, Oliver had told his aunt about her, or why he would have said anything about her at all.
"Yeah, Oliver told me Lilly went with you to visit your family a few months ago."
Ah, that explained it. He had been talking about Lilly.
"Oh, yep," Miley told her, relieved, "I painted a chicken coop." She nodded her head as if that had been the highlight of the trip. No mention of falling for an old friend that she had ended up breaking up with while she was filming a movie, or removing a blond wig and revealing a huge secret in front of an entire town.
"That... sounds like fun," Opal responded, a bemused expression on her face. "Whadaya got in the box there, Truscott?" She nodded to the container Lilly had set down.
"Cookies." Lilly smiled, popping off the lid and showing her the contents. She shot Miley a triumphant grin as Opal grabbed a cookie.
"You are a lifesaver. I've been craving sweets, but all Nancy has is ice cream cake, which she won't let me touch until after dinner."
"Because it's the birthday cake!" Mrs. Oken said laughingly from the other side of the counter.
"They're all yours." Lilly set them back down next to the grapes and continued, "we're just going to put Owen's presents in the dining room." She grabbed Miley's arm and pulled her, much as Miley had pulled her into the house.
"See," Miley whispered, "everything's going to be fine! Opal likes you! She taught you to climb up the side of a house, and you just gave her cookies." She set down the small box she had wrapped for Owen on the table, next to a pile of presents.
Lilly's gift bag joined Miley's box and she sighed, "yeah, I guess you're right. It'll be fine."
Then a group of four little boys raced pass them, almost knocking them over in the quest to get into the kitchen and through it to the backyard. Miley clutched Lilly's arm as the sea of brown hair swept away.
"Are all of the Okens boys?"
"Yeah... it's funny that Oliver's dad was the only boy, but he and his sisters all have boys."
"This is gonna be a very long afternoon, isn't it?" Miley hissed, her fingers tightening their grip on Lilly.
"Probably."
And it was. But not because they were surrounded by little boys.
The afternoon wasn't helped along by Miley and Lilly attempting to provide assistance in the kitchen and finding themselves continually dropping items whenever someone asked about boyfriends or breakups or anything like that. Miley more so than Lilly. Lilly seemed to be constantly cleaning up a mess. Oliver was, lucky for him, outside with his dad. Of course, he was having to listen to a lot of fire safety lectures, so maybe he wasn't all that lucky either. After Oliver's mom casually made a mention of Oliver having broken up with Joanie so long ago, and she was surprised he hadn't brought any girls around since, Miley spilled a jar of mustard all down the side of Lilly's leg in surprise.
Lilly hobbled awkwardly into the first floor bathroom, pulling Miley along with her.
"What is wrong with you?" she snapped at her best friend. "If you keep dropping things on me there won't be any food except for burgers and cake!"
"I'm sorry!" Miley snapped back. "They all just keep hinting at how Oliver should have a girlfriend. You need to just tell them something! Make it stop! It's driving me crazy!"
Lilly wanted to laugh. She really did. But, she was a little busy scrubbing mustard from her skin right that second. Miley was the one who was a wreck now. Miley was supposed to be the one here to help her, to keep her calm, but it seemed like everything was working in reverse. This wasn't what was supposed to happen.
"Miley, weren't you telling me to relax earlier? Now, it's your turn."
"But, what if his aunt wants to fix him up with some cute girl she knows or something because she's afraid he might be lonely? How are you gonna feel then?"
"Miley, everything is going to be fine," Lilly told her, keeping her voice calm, but her heart was starting to race again and she felt a few drops of sweat slide down her spine. What if Miley was right? What if there was an attempt to fix Oliver up by one of his relatives? What would he say? What would she say? She wasn't going to think about that right now.
When they returned to the kitchen, Oliver was standing there, leaning against a counter top and complaining to his aunts (Opal and the newly surfaced Ophelia) that his dad was crazy, and he wanted to know how they tortured him when he was little to make him act this way.
Ophelia just laughed, and when she shook her head, it seemed like the laugh rippled right on through her hair, making it appear even curlier as it swung along her back. She was arranging raw vegetables on a tray in front of her, and Opal kept snatching up carrots from it.
"We didn't torture him," Opal protested, but she had a far off look in her eyes, and there was a glitter there that Lilly was sure meant she was remembering one of the many pranks pulled on her brother. "Well," she amended after being fixed with a disbelieving stare from her nephew, "we didn't torture him much."
Lilly and Miley chuckled appreciatively. They knew a thing or two about torturing brothers.
Biting her lip, Lilly slid up to Oliver's side, letting her leg rest against his. "Still wearing the apron, I see," she commented while his aunts and his mom kept talking.
Miley walked up to Oliver's other side as he said, "yeah, my dad said I wasn't staying far enough away from the flames, so he sent me in here."
"But he still made you wear it?" Miley asked, her tone skeptical, not as friendly as Lilly's.
"I think I'm being punished." He shook his head ruefully.
"Hmm... I wonder what you could possibly have done that's so bad," Miley responded sarcastically. Lilly shot her a glare and hoped that no one noticed. Miley widened her eyes in mock innocence, then smiled when the doorbell rang. "More guests!" she cried with faked enthusiasm.
"I'll get it," Oliver said, rolling his eyes at Miley.
"I'll help you," Lilly chimed in. Though she wasn't sure it was a good idea to leave Miley alone with all of the women in Oliver's family, she wanted thirty seconds alone with him.
When they got through the dining room, Oliver glanced over his shoulder before slipping an arm around Lilly's waist and whispering, "maybe we should just tell them before Miley tells them for us."
"I don't want to upstage your brother at his party," Lilly whispered back, squirming when she felt his fingers sliding higher up her ribs, "I know how that feels."
"Okay, good point." After giving her a quick squeeze, he pulled his arm from around her at the door, but then turned his head in her direction to add, "Nice dress, by the way." His eyes ran down her form from top to bottom, and then he faced forward again.
Lilly felt heat flood her face at that. It could have been an innocent enough comment, but the look on Oliver's face informed her that the thought behind it was anything but innocent. She couldn't respond though because Oliver was opening the front door, standing there was Todd, and at his side was someone who looked like Todd, but in miniature.
"Hey, guys. Me and my bro are here for the little dude's birthday. We're not late are we?" Todd asked. He looked behind him at the cars that were lining the street.
"Nah. Those all belong to Oliver's relatives," Lilly said, scooting closer to Oliver so he could open the door wider and let them in. She could have just backed up and out of the way, but she wanted to get Oliver back for the dress comment while she could. She pressed her body firmly against him while Todd and his brother walked in, saying cheerfully, "Owen and his cousins are out back." Then she abruptly walked away from Oliver, leaving him clearing his throat awkwardly while Todd managed to stare at him both blankly and in amusement.
***
Two hours later, and several more of Owen's friends had shown up, along with his grandmother, or "Grams" as she preferred to be called. Since the cake had already been brought out, there was a supposedly serious game of football going on amongst Owen and his friends, but mostly it seemed to be a lot of yelling and running back and forth.
Lilly was seated at a table between Oliver and Opal, Miley sitting across from her. Opal was regaling Miley with stories of Oliver's childhood, all of which involved Lilly completing various daredevil feats, like the time she was dared to climb to the top of the tree that was no longer in the backyard, or the first time she climbed up the side of the Oken house to Oliver's bedroom (she was five), and the time she let a possum in the house and refused to get down from the kitchen counter, not knowing possums could climb.
"That was an accident!" Lilly burst out as Opal told the last story.
"Oh, man, Miley, you should have seen her! She was standing on the counter, jumping up and down, and she just kept screaming that it was coming after her." Oliver's face was red from laughing.
"Now, I know where your fixation with possums comes from," Miley joked. She received a grape in the face from Lilly for her trouble.
"It was so funny," Opal continued, "and, even though I think we were all afraid of the possum, Lilly was just so cute up on the counter with her little pig tails."
"Yeah, she was," Oliver agreed, before remembering that they still hadn't told anyone about them yet, and maybe, his aunt would find it a little odd that he had just agreed that his best friend was cute.
Miley's eyes widened, and just as Opal raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth to say something, Miley decided to casually knock the remnants of her plate of ice cream cake into her own lap. "Oh, would you look at that! I can't believe I'm so clumsy! Lilly, would you come to the kitchen with me and help me get this off my shorts?"
Lilly leaned her head back in her seat before sighing and following Miley back inside.
"Miley..."
"I know, I know, stop throwing food on myself. I just thought you might need a second to gather your thoughts." She grabbed a paper towel and started rubbing at the ice cream and cake combination on the edge of the fabric on her thigh.
"Miley," Lilly tried again, "if I needed a second, don't you think I would be the one throwing food on myself and leaving the table?"
"Good point. I didn't think of that."
Lilly gave a small chuckle and ran some water on a hand towel to give to Miley. "Here, you're shredding the paper towel all over you."
"Thanks."
They passed a few minutes in silence. Lilly looked out the back door at all of the people gathered for Owen's birthday. There were a lot of people. So much for family not showing up. And the littlest Oken had a lot more friends than she thought.
"Maybe you were right, Miley. Maybe today's not the best day to tell them."
"Lilly," Miley said as she placed the hand towel on the edge of the sink, "I know I said that... but, if you keep putting it off, it'll just get harder and harder to tell them. You just gotta do it... like rippin' off a band-aid."
"Maybe," Lilly agreed hesitantly.
"Come on, I got wet shorts, but I'm ready to go back out there and spill more food on people if you need me to distract them until you're ready!" Miley linked her arm with Lilly's as she spoke.
"You might be crazy, but you're a pretty awesome best friend, you know that, right?" Lilly laughingly asked her while opening the door.
"I know."
The seat Lilly had previously occupied was now taken over by Grams, and she appeared to be engaging Opal in a discussion about her favorite soap opera. Opal looked like she wanted to be anywhere else except listening to her mother's recap of the last ten episodes. Oliver kept chiming in at random moments to say things like "I know! I loved that one!" or "I didn't see it coming with Storm either!" Lilly and Miley exchanged a look before shaking their heads.
"Oh, you two are back!" Opal cried out gratefully when she spotted them. "Did you get all the ice cream out?" She gave Lilly a wink after that, almost as though she knew exactly why Miley had pulled her away from the trip down memory lane.
"I think so," Miley replied as she took her seat, leaving Lilly to stand next to Oliver's chair, not quite sure what to do.
"Lilly, let me look at you," Grams said, forgetting all about her soap operas. "I haven't seen you since I got here." She grabbed Lilly's arm and led her in a slight twirl. "You just get prettier every time I visit."
Lilly chuckled a little in embarrassment, still not used to all of Oliver's relatives telling her how nicely she had grown up, and avoided looking at either Miley or Oliver when she said, "thank you."
"I'll bet you and Miley have all the boys running in circles."
Miley giggled from her chair. She liked this woman. She and Opal had been the only people to include Miley in her "oh, how pretty" comments all day. The rest of Oliver's family had pretty much just accepted her as one of Oliver's friends, and since it wasn't his birthday, they weren't paying her much attention. And Owen's friends were a little intimidated by her and Lilly, so they were keeping out of their way too. Well, with the exception of Todd's brother who she kept catching staring at her, but it wasn't creepy, more like he recognized her, but couldn't remember where he'd seen her before.
"Well, Miley might, but, uh," Lilly leaned on the armrest of Oliver's chair as she spoke, trying to figure out what she wanted to say, but she could feel his arm grazing her lower back, holding her steady on her thin metallic seat, and she wasn't sure where to go with that sentence. She could feel Opal's eyes on her and Oliver, and to prevent Miley from finding any food to throw, Lilly said in a rush, "I don't think I make anyone run too many circles."
"I don't know," Oliver teased from behind her, "Wally likes to follow you around a lot... and I think you've got Todd pretty well wrapped around your finger."
Lilly shot him a look over her shoulder and hissed, "Wally is creepy." She gave a small shudder before continuing, "Todd and I are just friends. He says I'm his surfing soul sister." She turned back to Grams, sitting up straight, and she had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop the smile threatening to cross her face when Oliver's finger tips started tracing a circle on her lower back.
"Wally? If he's a problem, you could always get Nancy to get you a restraining order," Grams said, concerned with the term "creepy."
"No, he's harmless," Lilly laughed it off, "especially since," she paused, realizing she couldn't say that Wally had been leaving her alone ever since she chose to dance with Oliver instead of him at a party. "Um, since I, uh, went to a party with someone else a while back." She cleared her throat after that, and Oliver rubber her back soothingly.
"And Todd? Is he the boy over there pretending to be the goal post?"
Grams looked at the crowd of boys still playing on the grass after asking the question, but Opal kept her eyes firmly on Lilly and Oliver, a slight smirk on her face.
"Yep," Miley said. "That's Todd. He's kind of strange... but he's nice... and a much better surfing teacher than Lilly or Oliver."
"Hey, you gave me a bloody nose the first time," Oliver reminded her.
"And I sprained my wrist after that," Miley shot back.
"Yes, but you tried to drown him," Lilly added. It was the first time she had ever taken Oliver's side in this old argument.
"I didn't try to drown him!" Miley practically shouted, throwing her hands into the air. "I didn't," she added in a more docile tone to Opal and Grams when she lowered her arms. "I thought I saw a shark. I was just tryin' to get out of the water."
Opal laughed, but Grams narrowed her eyes. Miley might not stay in her good graces for long.
"It was a total accident," Miley added, trying to placate her.
Grams finally nodded before turning back to address Lilly. "No other prospects waiting in the wings? We should really fix that."
"Oh, well," Lilly stammered, and picked at the hem of her dress. "I, um, well..." She looked at Miley and Oliver for help. Why were they questioning her? Oliver was their relative, shouldn't they be interrogating him? Or had she missed that on one of Miley's sojourns to the kitchen or the bathroom to clean up her spills? Lilly took a breath and made a decision. "There is one guy that I've been out with a few times, but nothing's, uh, official... yet." Warmth spread all the way down to her toes when the pressure from Oliver's fingertips increased. Did that mean he approved of her answer, or was he trying to warn her that this was going to lead nowhere good?
"Well, tell us more about this young man. Is he a gentleman?" Grams asked.
Opal, still wearing a smirk, immediately followed up with, "is he a good kisser?"
Lilly's face turned bright red and she could see Miley out of the corner of her eye looking for something to throw on herself.
Oliver moved his cup of lemonade away from her and cut in, saying, "I don't think we all need to hear about Lilly's... love life. Stop asking her so many questions." His eyes narrowed at Opal when she began to absentmindedly rub her stomach, that same expression still on her face. He knew she knew. He didn't know how she knew. But he knew she knew, and he didn't want her to get Lilly into any trouble, especially not with his grandmother.
"He's a perfect gentleman," Lilly answered Grams, determinedly ignoring Opal's question. She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, the color in her face lightening to a pink.
Oliver looked at Opal and waited for her to say something else.
"Alright, alright," Opal sighed. "I'll stop asking Lilly about her mystery man. But, I'm gonna need something in return."
"I think you already ate all of the cookies," Lilly teased her, feeling slightly more at ease.
"I'm passed the sweets now," she responded, waving the thought of cookies off. "Pickles... now that sounds good. The ice cream cake made me want those really sour pickles." Opal nodded her head, licking her lips in anticipation.
"I think we have some of those sour-wedge-things in the fridge," Oliver said, bracing his arm on Lilly's back as he moved to get up.
"I'll go," Lilly said, hurriedly standing and smoothing her skirt down. She smiled at Opal when she started to walk away, but bit down on her lip to keep the smile from going too wide when Oliver's hand traveled back down her side and on to his armrest. She took quick steps to the kitchen, pulling her hair from the back of her neck, trying to deflect some of the heat she felt now.
She welcomed the air conditioning in the kitchen, standing in front of the open refrigerator door and letting the even colder air rush out at her. She stretched her hands out in front of her, rolling her shoulders a little bit as she started to search for dill pickle spears. What was it about pregnant women and pickles?
"So, this isn't exactly going the way I planned," the voice she had grown to love so much said from behind her.
Lilly didn't turn around, just continued searching for the pickles in the refrigerator. She moved aside a bottle of flavored coffee creamer and a few small containers of yogurt. Well, she'd found the relish.
"Maybe..." Oliver hesitated and Lilly stiffened in the cold air when she peered around a container of feta cheese. "Maybe we should wait to tell them. You know, when it isn't so crazy."
She shoved a couple different salad dressings out of her way and spied the glass jar she was looking for. She grabbed onto it and turned to face him, letting the door fall shut behind her. Even though she made the same suggestion to Miley not too long ago, it rankled her when Oliver said it.
"Maybe," Lilly told him shortly, "we should have told them a long time ago. I feel like we're lying to Miley all over again."
"Yeah, except Miley found out the same day she got back," Oliver reminded her, crossing the distance from the back door to stand next to her by the fridge. "Our parents have been clueless for over a month now."
Lilly leaned against the counter, feeling the edge of it cutting through her sun dress, and cradled the pickle jar in her hands. When she met Oliver's eyes, he looked as frustrated as she felt.
"I don't want it to seem like we're hiding from them. What if they find out from someone else? Like Todd or Miley?" She bit down on her lip after asking the question, worried about the prospect of hurting Oliver's parents more than her own. Her mom would get over it. She always thought Lilly was lying to her about something. Mr. and Mrs. Oken though, she would feel badly if they thought she was lying.
"You're right," he whispered, leaning against the kitchen island opposite her. "I don't want my parents to think I'm lying to them... I just didn't want to do this in front of all the rest of my family."
Lilly pursed her lips and knitted her eyebrows together at his words. "Are you embarrassed that you're dating me or something?" She ran the tip of one of her fingers around the lid of the pickle jar, not looking at him.
"What? No! Lilly, how could you think that?" Oliver's eyes were wide when he stepped forward and snatched the jar away from her, setting it roughly on the counter so he could take her hands in his own, standing only a few inches away. "I -" He cut himself off abruptly, knowing they weren't ready for him to say the rest of the words that would have made up that sentence.
"You what?' she asked softly, catching his eyes again. They were so warm, and so full of... something... that she couldn't bring herself to look away.
"I would stand on the roof and scream that you were my girlfriend if I thought that would be better." He grinned, shaking a few strands of his flyaway hair out of his face. "I just don't want my family to be too hard on you. Opal's just going to tease you, but Ophelia will probably want to run a full background check, and my grandmother will start demanding great-grandchildren right away."
Lilly giggled before saying, "well, lucky for you, I've never been arrested, and I don't owe anyone any money... There is security footage of me when I was 13 sneaking into a Hannah Montana concert though." She gave him a smirk. "But I think I had help with that."
"That you did," Oliver agreed before he leaned in to give her a soft kiss. It was quick and barely there, and then his eyes were drifting from her face down to the front of her dress. "Did I mention this dress is fantastic?"
Lilly let go of his hands to pull her hair back from her face, tying it loosely with a hair band from her wrist while she rolled her eyes. "I have a feeling you're imagining me out of the dress more than seeing me in it," she teased.
He kissed her again. "You're probably right."
"I think I'm okay with that though," she added biting down on her lip again.
Oliver groaned and his hands braced themselves against the counter on either side of her.
"What?"
"You have got to stop doing that."
She saw his fingers tighten their grip on the counter and his body shifted even closer to her. The muscles in her abdomen constricted at the rapidly diminishing distance.
"What am I doing? Saying I like that my boyfriend thinks about me without clothes on? I think a lot of girls would rather their boyfriends think about them than other girls... or other boys for that matter."
"Not that. Well, yes, that too, but -" Oliver took a breath and tried to compose himself. "You've got to stop biting your lip like that."
"What?" She really laughed now. "That bothers you?"
"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "It bothers me a lot. So much that I don't want to go back outside right now."
"Oh, I see." Smiling, Lilly closed the brief space between them, and kissed him softly on the cheek before whispering, "I promise I'll be on my best behavior the rest of the day."
"Good," he whispered back, but instead of pulling away from her, he let himself kiss her one more time before they returned to the people in the backyard.
At least, it was supposed to be one more time, but Oliver couldn't seem to make himself pull completely away, and pretty soon he had Lilly seated on the counter, his arms around her, hands playing with the buttons on the back of her dress.
"Oliver," Lilly moaned when his mouth finally detached from hers, "we have to go back outside." But she was tilting her head back, allowing his mouth to move down the column of her throat.
He made a noise that probably would have informed her that he agreed if her legs hadn't wrapped themselves around his waist just then and his hands hadn't found the top of the trail of buttons on her back.
"Why are there so many buttons?" he muttered against her skin. "How long did it take you to get dressed?"
"Not long," she gasped when his fingers undid the first one. "It only has to be buttoned about half way up for me to be able to put it on."
"Or take it off."
"Or take it off," she agreed as another button came undone. Oliver chuckled and she felt the vibrations of his laugh all the way down to her toes. She closed her eyes and just reveled in the feel of his lips on the pulse point in her neck and his fingers on her shoulder blades. She had been missing the feel of his hands on her skin all day. When his mouth moved for her collar bone and his fingers met the third button of the dress though, Lilly made herself pull away.
"Stop?" Oliver asked hoarsely. He stood up straight, his hands traveling back to her waist.
"Yeah." Clearing her throat, Lilly smoothed down her clothing before reaching back to redo the buttons.
"Here, I can do that," Oliver whispered, his breathing labored as he leaned against her to fix the back of her dress.
Lilly smiled when he took a step back and reminded him, "I have to take your aunt the pickles."
"Right. I almost forgot." He nodded his head before his eyes focused on a spot on her neck. "You need to put your hair back down though."
"What? Why?"
"I may have left a tiny mark right there." His index finger grazed the space on her neck where he could feel her heart beat. It was racing.
"Oliver," she groaned, quickly pulling the elastic band from her hair and fluffing the strands around her head.
He helped her arrange her hair, doing his best to cover up the spot of very red skin that was sure to stay that way. "Just don't move your head around too much and you'll be fine."
"Maybe I'll just get one of your cousins to throw a football at me or something."
"They don't have very good aim. You'd have to dive into the football. Haven't you seen the human goal post out there? He keeps moving around."
Lilly giggled, not noticing that he was back to standing right up against her legs, or that her head was leaning back in for his. He was a magnet. A very powerful magnet. That was the problem.
"I could pretend to trip and land on someone's shoe or something," she joked, tracing a pattern on his chest with the tip of her finger.
"You might break your neck then, not just bruise it," he responded, forgetting about his warning to keep her hair in place, reaching up to tuck it behind her ear without thinking, his other hand skimming along the skin just above one of her knees. "Besides, you'd stain your dress."
"Hmm.... yeah, probably not a good idea then." Her breath hitched as the fingers above her knee moved to the outside of her thigh, then started to travel higher on her skin, taking the hem of her dress with them.
She kissed him softly, just below his ear, but didn't pull her head away from his. He stopped breathing for a second when her eyes met his at that close of a range, and he flicked his gaze down to her mouth, almost like he was asking for permission to keep going. Lilly answered by chewing on her lower lip.
"We really need to not be alone in here right now, don't we?" Oliver asked her just before her lips met his again.
"That would probably be a good idea."
The voice that answered wasn't Lilly because her lips were still attached to his. And it wasn't coming from in front of him. It was coming from behind him. In the direction of the back door.
Oliver jerked away from Lilly, spinning around to face the door, but keeping his body between his girlfriend and the woman who just walked in.
***