"Lillian, this is truly atrocious."

Lilly Truscott's sixteen-year-old brother Jameson snickered from his spot at the kitchen table. Lilly blew a blonde curl out of her eye and shot her brother a death glare. "Gramma," she said, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead, "It's not that big of a deal, just because I-"

"A-tro-cious," Martha "Gramma" Randall said slowly. She stared at the smoking, black, sort of attempt at an apple pie that sat on the counter. "Eighteen-years-old," she muttered, waving her hand through the smoke. "I swear to God when I was half your age I could've whipped up a seven course meal without even thinking of burning a thing."

Lilly rolled her blue eyes and flopped into the chair next to her brother exhaustedly. "Well that was the forties, Gramma, and-"

"Can you believe it?" Martha said, throwing her hands on her hips as she turned to look at Jameson. "Are you ashamed that your sister is that old and can't bake a simple pie?"

Jameson let out another peal of laughter and nodded. "It's hard for me to show my face at school," he said. "All the kids laugh at me."

Lilly stomped on her brother's foot under the table. "We could have just gotten a frozen one like I said!" she protested. "I could have made that one easily!"

"Oh, no, no, no!" Martha squealed, wagging a wrinkled finger. "As long as I am alive, no relation of mine will ever serve frozen anything."

Jameson leaned close to Lilly. "She's obviously never had any of Mom's cooking."

"What are you two hooligans laughing about?" Martha snapped, whipping her head around to glare at her two blonde grandchildren. Though she could be the stereotypical sit-in-a-rocking-chair-and-knit kind of old lady, when it came to the kitchen, she got serious.

"Nothing, Gramma," Lilly replied slowly, an innocent grin spreading across her face.

"I was just laughing at how Lilly is eighteen-years-old and is still unable to make a simple apple pie," Jameson quickly added.

"It really is bad," Lilly agreed. "I'm so stupid. Why did I ever choose to go to college? And all the while, my good friends – oh Gramma, I think you know them: Martha Stewart, Paula Dean, and Betty Crocker? – sat at home in Malibu learning to be the good homemakers that they are."

"Don't you sass me, Lillian Anne Truscott," Martha said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You are on thin ice, young lady, thin ice."

The doorbell rang and Lilly shot out of her seat. "Oh, the doorbell!" she said, a little more excitedly than normal. "I'd best be off to get it." She jogged to the foyer and threw open the door.

"Lill-ay!" Oliver Oken yelled, opening his arms wide.

Lilly squealed and launched herself at her best friend, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "Ollie, I've missed you!" she said as he ran his hand up and down her back.

"I've missed you, too, Lil!" Oliver replied, holding her tightly to him. After a moment, she dropped to the ground, pulling away from him. As soon as he got a chance to really look at her, he let out a long peal of laughter. "What the hell are you wearing?" he laughed.

"The remnants of my attempt at a homemade apple pie," Lilly replied dryly, crossing her arms across her chest.

Oliver laughed again at her disheveled appearance. She had attempted to control her curly blonde hair by putting it in a bun on top of her head, but several stray curls had fallen into her face. She was wearing an old, gray Seaview High sweatshirt and ripped jeans under a doughy apron that read "Mama Knows Best" and there were splotches of dough and flour in random spots on her body. It was strange to Oliver that she could look so messy and unkempt and to him, she was still the most beautiful girl in the world.

Lilly stuck out her bottom lip and shoved him playfully. "Nothing about this situation is funny, Oliver," she said. "Especially not to Gramma."

"No way!" Oliver exclaimed, placing a hand on Lilly's shoulder as he whirled her around and led her back into the house. "Gramma is here?"

Lilly rolled her eyes. Ever since they had been little kids, Gramma Randall and Oliver had shared some sort of bond. "It's not fair that she likes me better than you," Lilly pouted as she was led into the kitchen.

"Don't be a hater, Lilly," Oliver laughed. "It's not very becoming of you."

The two stepped into the kitchen and Martha looked up from the new apple pie she and Jameson were making. "Oliver Oken!" she exclaimed cheerily, wiping her doughy hands on her apron and wrapping the boy in a tight hug. "How great it is to see you!"

Jameson looked at Lilly and placed a finger to his lips. He tiptoed past her whispering, "Escape while you can!" Lilly giggled and rolled her eyes.

"It's so good to see you, too, Gramma!" Oliver replied. He pulled away from the old lady and placed a hand on Lilly's shoulder. "I hear our Lilly didn't quite inherit the cooking skills you'd hoped she would."

Martha rolled her eyes. "Can't even make a simple apple pie," she sighed. "I guess I have to do everything myself. And I was so hoping to go to bridge club this afternoon. I guess I'll just have to call the girls and-"

"You know," Oliver said, "I hate to brag, but I am pretty skilled in the kitchen."

Martha grinned and placed her hands on her hips. She pinched Oliver's nose. "Oliver Oken is there anything you can't do?" She laughed and kissed Oliver's cheek as she took off her apron and left the room. "Thanks so much, Oliver!" she called as she left the house.

Lilly, who was sitting on the counter, arms crossed tightly across her chest, stuck out her tongue. "That's so not fair," she protested as Oliver tied Martha's discarded apron around his waist. "I'm her grandchild. Doesn't that give me an automatic in?"

Oliver laughed and rolled his eyes. "Do you want to help me?" he asked.

"Are you kidding?"

"No. With my direction and guidance, you'll be Paula Dean in no time." He wiggled his eyebrows up and down and offered her a hand, which she took. He pulled her off of the counter and she scooted so that she was standing very close to him as they read over the recipe. He felt his breath hitch in his throat.

"Are we supposed to make the crust, too?" she whined, pointing at the recipe.

Oliver snapped back into reality. "Wha? No. Gramma already made that. We just have to make the filling."

"Okay," Lilly said. "So, Emeril, what should I do?"

Oliver glanced at the recipe. "Go get me… the sugar, please!"

Lilly saluted him and then went to the cabinet. When she returned, Oliver laughed. "What?" she asked. "What did I do?"

He laughed again. "Is this what you used in the first apple pie?"

She nodded. "Yes. So?"

"It's salt."

Lilly furrowed her eyebrows. And then she laughed. "Are you kidding?" When Oliver shook his head and continued to laugh, she got a mysterious twinkle in her eye. "Well," she said slowly, "I do know a way that we could salt in this pie…"

Oliver began to back up slowly. "I don't like that look in your eye." Dumping the salt into her hand, she launched it at him. He laughed. "Throwing salt at me? Is that the best ya got, Truscott?" He turned around and grabbed the closest container to him: Cool Whip. He threw off the lid and scooped a dollop out with his hand. "There's an important lesson to learn from this, Lillian," he said, watching her eyes grow wide. "You get what you give."

Laughing, he launched the Cool Whip at her. She ducked just as it flew past her head and hit a figure in the doorway. Oliver laughed. Lilly turned around and gasped.

"What's going on, Lilly?" the figure asked.

Lilly glared at Oliver and grabbed a towel, wiping the Cool Whip away. "Sorry, we were just making an apple pie and I thought you were asleep and-"

The figure, a male, wiped the remaining Cool Whip out of his eyes and turned to look at Oliver. "And you are?" he asked.

Oliver looked from Lilly to the man. "I'm… I'm Oliver."

Lilly smiled. "I'm sorry," she said politely. "Oliver, this is Brandon… my… my boyfriend."

A/N: I decided to forego the Christmas one-shot and write a Christmas story! I hope you understood that the gang (Lilly, Oliver, etc.) are in college and are seeing each other for the first time at Christmas. Miley and other characters will come in in the next chapters. I hope you liked this! Please review!