First and foremost, THIS STORY CONTAINS NO REAL PEOPLE. It does, however, contain characters from Hannah Montana. I don't own these characters.
This is just a little oneshot. Way fluffier than I usually go for, but eh, I guess I was in a mood. :P Enjoy!
"I could do that," he declared, hardly looking up from his Rolling Stone.
Lilly stopped on the sidewalk in front of him and snapped up her skateboard. "Oh really?" she asked incredulously.
Joe turned the page. "Pff, totally. I don't see what all the fuss is about. It can't be that hard."
Lilly smirked. "Well then. Be my guest, hot shot."
He looked at her, a bit surprised, but nonetheless tossed his magazine down into the lawn and stood up from the plastic chair he had been sitting in. "Alright. Let's do this."
She handed the board to Joe. "Okay. Here you go. Do you want my guards?" she asked, pointing to the pads around her wrists. "Ya know, for when you fall on your ass."
"Aren't you sweet," Joe drawled sarcastically. "But no, I think I'll be fine."
Lilly shook her head. "Suit yourself."
Joe put the board down and awkwardly stepped onto it. He began to lose his balance right away, but regained it quickly and looked up at Lilly with a cocky grin. "So what should I do?"
"Anything. Just do an ollie. You don't even have to be moving. Just do it in place."
He nodded. "That's the flippy one, right?"
"No, it isn't the 'flippy one,'" Lilly said, rolling her eyes. "That would be a kickflip. You just have to do the 'jumpy part' of it."
"Okay," Joe said, "here it goes." He bent his knees just like he had watched Lilly do a million times and jumped. He flew into the air, but the board, unfortunately, stayed exactly where it was. He landed, rather ungracefully, back on his feet on the pavement.
Lilly laughed and gave him a one-person standing ovation. He glared at her. "Alright, so the first attempt didn't go so well."
"It didn't," she agreed, unable to wipe the expression of glee off her face. She shooed him out of the way and stepped onto the board. "Here, I'll show you. It isn't hard; this deck has a ridiculous amount of pop." He rolled his eyes, but she didn't notice and went on. "You just have to hit back by the tail and then slide your other foot forward." She emphasized her point by demonstrating it. "If you can't get your other foot up there, just bail or else it'll shoot out from underneath you when you try to land it."
Joe nodded, pretending that that had made any sense to him, and stepped back up onto the board. "Here we go, trolley attempt number two."
"Ollie," Lilly corrected.
"I said that," Joe insisted. His second try turned out much like his first one did. So did his third, and his fourth, and his fifth… Ten minutes later, he had succeeded in getting the front of the board up, but there was no actual ground clearance.
"Joe," Lilly said sincerely, "I'm really sorry, but I think you need to know the truth… You suck."
Joe chuckled in spite of himself. "No, I can do this! Just one more try," he persisted as he noticed the disbelieving look she was giving him.
Lilly sighed. "Okay, one more. Just really stomp it this time," she coached.
He concentrated and did exactly what she had told him to. And it worked. He basked in the glory of his eighth-of-a-second of airtime before landing back down with both his feet over the back truck. Lilly covered her mouth as the board slid out from under him and began rolling down the sidewalk. Meanwhile, he went flying back the other way and landed hard on the pavement.
She was just about to erupt in a chorus of "I told you so's" when he let out a loud yell. Lilly cringed. Maybe he had hurt more than his pride. She rushed over to him and bent down. "Well stop rolling around and let me look."
"I trollied back there, Lilly," he choked out.
"You sure did," she murmured, suppressing her urge to laugh at his last comment as she inspected him. Then she noticed it. That bump on his arm wasn't usually there… "Hey Joe," she said gently. "Have you ever broken a bone before?" He shook his head with his eyes still shut tightly. "Well, congrats, buddy. First one."
His eyes shot open. "No freakin' way…"
"Yep," Lilly said as she pulled him up into a sitting position. "Your parents are still out of town, aren't they?"
"Dammit. Yes."
"Okay, well, I guess you're legal so they'll still be able to treat you. Let's you get you to the emergency room and then we'll call Kevin or something."
"Yeah, alright." Joe stood up, keeping his right arm held tight against his body. "We can take my car." He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his keys, and tossed them to Lilly.
She caught them, but instead of following Joe toward the car, she stayed right where she was. "Funny story about that," she said as stared down at her shoes. "I don't have my license."
Joe whipped around to face her. "I thought you just took your test!"
"See, now that's another super funny story…" she began.
"Let me guess. You didn't pass?" She shook her head no. "Well I can't drive. I don't have a right hand!"
"Well it's not like you have to drive stick," she reasoned.
"You're driving," he said shortly and turned back toward the car.
"Yes sir!" She ran down the sidewalk, grabbed her skateboard, and tossed it into the back seat of the car before she sat down in the driver's seat. "Here we go…"
As they neared the hospital, it was becoming quite clear why she had failed her license test. Joe was getting tense. "Careful, Lilly! You taking me to the hospital won't do any good if we're both dead before we get there!"
"Hey, I'm doing my best over here! Besides, we're almost there. Just calm down."
Joe looked over at her. "I think that'd be a lot easier if my arm didn't have an extra corner right now."
"Don't be such a drama queen," she said as she switched lanes without signaling and pulled in front of another car. "It doesn't even look that bad. I bet they'll be able to set it right there."
Joe didn't even want to think ahead to that part. Somewhat miraculously, they finally made it to the hospital in one piece. Lilly parked the car and they got out and walked up to the big glass doors. As they entered, they noticed that the waiting room was packed.
"This day just keeps getting better," Joe muttered.
"Just have a seat," Lilly told him. "I'll go talk to the desk."
He sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and cringed a little. He wasn't particularly fond of sick people.
A minute later, Lilly came back holding a clipboard. She took a seat next to him. "You have to fill out this paperwork while we wait." She glanced over and noticed the look on his face. "I have to fill out some paperwork that you will dictate to me," she amended. "Okay, name. Joseph," she said, pronouncing each sound as she wrote the corresponding letter. "What's your middle name?"
"Adam," he answered.
"That's cute," she said, not noticing the small smile that appeared on his face. "Date of birth. August… something."
"15th."
"August 15, 1989?" He nodded. "Alrighty, reason for visit. Sucks at skateboarding." She smiled over at him, but was met with a frown. "Well your grumpy bone seems to be intact," she muttered.
"What does that even mean?"
She ignored him and moved on. "Are you allergic to anything? Ever been hospitalized?" He shook his head. "Date of last menstrual period?" she asked with a grin. He just groaned and leaned his head back on the wall, closing his eyes. "Not applicable." The pain was starting to get to him. She reached a hand over and put it on his knee. He opened one eye and looked down at it.
"Okay then… symptoms… No, no, no, no, no, yes, no, no, no, no. They're really thorough with these, huh? No, no, no." She noticed that he was paling a little bit. "Hey Joseph Adam, are you light-headed at all?" He nodded. "Yes, no, no, no. Alright, I think that's about it, but they still need your insurance stuff. Do you have it?"
"Wallet," he answered weakly.
"Can I have it?"
"Ugh, can't you just get it yourself?" he moaned.
Lilly blushed. "I'm not reaching into your pants, Joe."
Without opening his eyes, he sighed and leaned forward so he could reach into his back pocket for his wallet. He pulled it out and tossed it onto her lap. She dug around until she found his insurance card and brought it and the clipboard back up to reception desk.
"Why do we have to wait so long?" Joe whined as Lilly plopped back down into her seat.
"You're fine," she assured him, grabbing hold of his good hand. It was clammy, but she didn't care.
After what felt like an eternity, it was finally their time. It turned out that the waiting was actually the hardest part of all of it. Once they went back to see the doctor, they gave Joe some drugs to numb down the pain for a couple hours, ran some x-rays, set the bone, gave him a cast, and they were out of there.
And now, Lilly and Joe sat on his living room sofa, making fun of a bad made for television movie they had found and talking.
"Ya know," Joe said, "I'm gonna have to think of a way cooler story to tell people when they ask about it." He was in a considerably better mood now.
Lilly laughed. "If anyone asks, I'll say it was a ninja fight."
"Yeah, ninjas. I like the sound of that," he said thoughtfully.
She rolled her eyes and he laughed. "You did good today, though."
"Think so?" he asked, puffing out his chest.
"Yes. You hardly freaked out all."
"Hey Lilly, remember when I was all like, 'Tell it to me straight, Doc. Will I ever play the tambourine again?'"
Lilly shook her head. "Yes, Joe, you were hilarious…"
"I wonder what my brothers will say when they see it," he mused, lifting up his cast.
"I still think that's mean. You should have told them."
"But it's so much funnier this way!" Joe laughed for a moment, admiring his own genius idea, but then his smile faded. He turned to Lilly. "Thank you though."
"For what?" Lilly asked nervously. She had just noticed how close they were sitting to each other. When had that happened?
"I don't know. Taking me to the ER, staying with me for the whole thing." He leaned forward and hugged her. As she held onto him, she prayed that he couldn't feel how fast her heart was beating all of a sudden. He pulled away from the hug, but didn't let go of her.
Her breath hitched in her throat as he stared straight into her eyes. "What?" she asked lamely.
"I like you, Lilly."
She swallowed hard. "I like you too, Joe. I mean, you're one of my best--"
"No," he interrupted. He reached up and pushed a loose strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "I like you."
She chuckled halfheartedly but didn't break their eye contact. "I think it's the latest dose of your pain pills talking."
That's when he leaned forward and kissed her. She was stunned at first, but she didn't try to stop him. She readjusted herself so she was leaning into him more and raised a hand to his chest. This was what she had always hoped for, though maybe under different circumstances. He left his casted arm down at her waist and lifted his good hand up behind her head, bringing her even closer to him.
When the need for fresh air proved too much, they pulled away, both struggling to control their breathing, and rested their foreheads together. "I haven't taken any yet," Joe whispered.
So there was that… I needed a break from writing angsty stuff, so I just decided to write this little piece – silly, fluffy, kind of pointless, completely devoid of any substance. But I had fun writing it! And I hope you enjoyed it as well. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it if you'd be so kind. Thanks so much for reading!
-Charlotte