This story is for amandajbruce because her story, Moments, inspired it. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed Lilly's size six feet.
Little Things
It's a typical Saturday afternoon. She sleeps in until noon because she did two encores at her Hannah concert last night, and because she likes being able to. It's one of those things that makes her feel like a normal kid. Then when she finally gets up, Daddy makes her his special pancakes, with blueberries today. She got all As on her report card, and he likes that she's a smart, normal kid. And you know what else she likes? Blueberries. They remind her of the summers they spent in northern Maine in Mamaw's cottage. Jackson would pick all his blueberries, nice and clean, off the teeny little vines and bring them home so Mamaw could make cake and waffles and pie with them. She had another method though, she would just shove them all in her mouth straight. At the end of those days she'd end up with a blue tongue and lips, and Daddy would carry her back to the cottage, asleep on her full stomach. It was still her definition of heaven.
After Daddy starts doing the dishes she skips upstairs for a shower. It's the perfect day for a shower, warm enough to use cold water but not so hot she has to use it in icy temperatures to negate the humidity and be apple to soap the stink out of her armpits. And then she air dries, because P. Diddy does it and because it's nice to waste an hour lounging around in your bathrobe and catching up on celebrity gossip that doesn't involve you whilst deciding somewhere in the back of your mind on what to wear.
She does know exactly what to wear when she meets up with Lilly and Oliver an hour later too, her cute black denim Capri's with the little rhinestone stars and her blue shiny sari-type top that Hannah got as a gift from an Indian girl at one of the shows. A little bit hippy, but a lot bit hot, especially if she pairs it with those AH-MAZ-ING new silver gladiator flats of hers. You've gotta love Manolos, don't cha?
So she's got a little skip in her step already as she heads down to Rico's because who needs a boyfriend when you've got the best of both worlds? Another perfect day as Miley Stewart, yes, indeed. It's nice to be able to relax and breathe slow every once and a while. How could her life (lives) get any better? Well, she doesn't have the answer, but she definitely knows how it could get worse.
Two words. Synonym for sexy, sporty, ninety-nine pounds of green-eyed terror? Joannie Palumbo. There she is, sitting with her two best friends, her stupid size six feet in Oliver's lap as she sips down a strawberry milkshake. Lilly sits opposite of her, drinking the same exact thing and munching on Rico's weekly special, a corndog, and arguing with Oliver about something as he sips on his own chocolate milkshake and looks longingly at her meat.
Now, she's not jealous. Which she knows is the first assumption Lilly and Oliver jump to every time she mentions her obsessive hate for his girlfriend. Maybe a little that she stole her chair, and that Lilly likes to play hockey with Joannie instead of you. She's not really worried about her being replaced though, she just thought she was.
You see, Miley likes chocolate milkshakes and pedicures. She never lets her hair get greasy and would never willingly pick up a piece of sporting equipment other than a bike. And she still prefers the ones at the gym near the treadmills where she can watch E!News while riding. She prefers pink to blue and green. And she likes to see marathon shopping as equivalent to marathons because it's as close as she's ever going to get.
She knows another girl though. One who loves strawberry milkshakes, and also has size six feet but only after being worn down by her brunette best friend will let anyone touch them. One who loves hockey and running and the way her hair feels after a nice, long day of surfing. She hates gyms, because none of the people in them would last a day at the skate parks in their lives. She loves the color blue, and not just because it matches her eyes. And she might like to shop, but she's run marathons for charity, sure, as long as it's for a good cause like the ASPCA or cancer or something.
And as she pulls up her chair next to the blonde in question she smiles at her and offers her a bite of her corndog, probably only to torture the doughnut boy on her other side. She offers Joannie a tight smile and leans her head against her best friends shoulder, because she needs to show her that it doesn't matter that she's there. It doesn't matter that she has her feet on Oliver's laugh or that he gets that big smug smile when she calls him Big-O because it's not going to last. Oliver doesn't see the big things.
And Joannie, all she is big. She has that big fat mouth with the big, loud words which she can't seem to shut. She has her big greasy, curly head of brunette hair which she refuses to put any mousse into and if she was smart, would tint just the littlest bit red to bring out the color of her skin so much more. She has this big reputation for being fast and strong and for her big fights with Lilly, and more recently, Miley. And she likes to give Oliver big, wet kisses right in front of his ex-girlfriends just to make sure they know he's hers.
And it makes her laugh. She can see them, she can see the little things that are really killing him all along. She can see the little ways he tries to hide it when it's not working.
She can see the way he sniffs Lilly's hair when he's behind her in line for the movies, and then suddenly wants the caramel apples at the snack bar. She can see the way he shrugs his arm around her sometimes when he talks with his hands and then removes it realizing it's not supposed to be there. She can see the way when Todd asks him he says blonds are hotter than brunettes and doesn't even realize he answered wrong when Joannie hits him.
The way when all three of them hug Lilly always nuzzles her head into the crook of his neck, and the little breath he exhales as he leans his head on top of hers. The little way he'll grab her hands when they're fighting and intertwine them with his even though he's angry. The way he only likes little feet now, when he had no problem with Sarah even though she should have played Teen Bigfoot instead of Jake. The little smile that creeps up on his face when Lilly accidentally compliments him when trying to insult someone else. The little jokes they have, that make them laugh so hard. The little 64 crayons that needed a sharpener that started it all.
The little things that are making them fall in love.
They keep missing them though. Oliver probably has no idea that Lilly's feet are the same size as Joannie's or that his sudden higher intake of green apples has to do with Lilly's shampooing choices. He doesn't notice that half his fights with his girlfriend are because she won't surf with him or because she doesn't laugh at his lame little puns. A light doesn't go off when he stares too long at a box of crayons, and he doesn't even realize that he subconsciously turns over every one to look for a sharpener.
Lilly can't connect her hair color with every celebrity crush of his. She doesn't know that holding hands while screaming at the top of your lungs still counts. She doesn't notice she accidentally says nice things about him now when reaffirming how stupid and ugly Jackson and Cooper are. She doesn't even see that he lays her head on top of hers.
And yet another day, Miley sits there, watching Oliver steal a bite from Lilly's corndog while she goes on about how she can't believe he still hasn't gotten rid of his stupid nightlight, and wondering why they don't notice these things. The things that make them perfect for each other.
The thing about little things is, sometimes you miss them.
So maybe Miley doesn't like Joannie. Maybe she doesn't like how her big mouth interrupts their little jokes. Maybe she doesn't like the way she has to go on big triple dates with her friends instead of double ones. Maybe she doesn't like how half the time her big bubble butt steals her seat at Rico's. Maybe she doesn't like that she's one more big thing in the way of her Lilly and her Oliver being each other's. Maybe Lilly and Oliver think she's just a big jealous baby, but eventually, they'll have to think about why, right?