A/N:

Inspiration:
Italian I. 11:05 AM. La maestra is explaining to us the meaning of the word azzurro, meaning "sky-blue". The story we are reading says the sky at night is azzurro. La maestra says that it doesn't seem right, since the sky at night is blu, meaning "dark-blue". Someone blurts out "Like midnight-blue!" The word strikes me. I contemplate on the beauty of the word, and how it would make a perfect title to a fanfic. Inspiration hits. The end.
This was originally a Justin/Alex fic, but I REALLY wanted to write a Justin/Lilly fic after the Crossover feature came up, so here it is. I will possibly write a Justin/Alex One-Shot version to this fic, but it will be at LiveJournal.
Maybe I said that Do You Really? would be my last fic until summer, and I did, but I was wrong. This story is just something to keep me going before summer. I probably won't update anything else besides this.


Midnight Blue
by Pwnguin

Chapter One:
Complicated

She didn't want to come here. She hated leaving home. She lived and loved Malibu, California for her whole life, and she sure as hell wasn't going to leave this place for a stupid thing like college. She isn't sure why she applied to a college so far away from home anyway. Why she was leaving sunny California for pollution-central New York for school was completely past her. So maybe her two-year boyfriend begged her to go, and maybe she loved him enough to listen to him, but that didn't mean she had to go. Maybe... just maybe, she would find something beyond her imagination, and maybe she knew that, and maybe that's why she went.

Lilly Truscott sure didn't believe that for the first few months of her college experience.

People told her that college was a step up from high school. Boy were they wrong. College was a mountain up from high school. Lilly went through the stress up late nights and early mornings, soon taking caffeine into her regular diet. She awaited the weekend so early as Sunday evening, biting back the pain from the stress work had given her. She lived alone in a rented apartment, surrounded by crazy neighbors who would not let her sleep at night, due to music, 3 AM arguments, or cats who enjoyed running against the walls. New York drove her crazy. She wanted home, she wanted Miley, she wanted Oliver. She regrets ever loving him and letting him convince her that New York was her place to be.

Life seemed to get worse when her "home" was suddenly taken away from her.

School had kept Lilly too busy to keep up with her part-time job as a waitress. When her schoolwork began to pile up, work became harder to keep up with, and eventually she was fired. Without money, she could not pay her rent, and was eventually kicked out of her apartment. With a rolling luggage in hand, she trudges the street in hope to find work, a home, or at least a place to sleep.

She holds her vanilla latte in hand, taking sips every now and then to keep her awake. It's only 3 in the afternoon, but she could use a nap. Her eyes keep locked at her shoes, and she avoids eye-contact with anyone who moves out of her way.

That changes when her head bumps into the chest of an unnoticing walker. She looks up, annoyed, and meets her eyes with a dark-haired boy who can't be more than two years older than her. She mumbles under her breath, "Sorry."

"It's all good," he nods. He notices her luggage, "Fleeing the country, by any chance?"

She shakes her head and sips her latte, "No. I just got kicked out of my apartment."

"Oh, that's too bad," he seems to be sincere with his response. "I'm sorry about that."

"Don't be, it's not your fault," she mutters. "Look, I gotta get going, I need to find a job and a new apartment. It was nice talking to you..."

"Justin. Justin Russo," he says, offering his hand for a shake. She lets go of her belongings for a second and shakes his hand. Their eyes meet, and she can't help but smile.

"Lilly Truscott," she says.

He seems reluctant to let her go. Excitedly, he says, "Hey, if you need a job, my dad owns a Sub Station on Waverly Place. Maybe I could sweet talking him into hiring...?"

She is suddenly excited, "Really? That's perfect! Thanks, Justin," she says. He leads the way to the Waverly Sub Station, which was located conveniently under an apartment building. Justin explained that his family lived right above the Sub Station with his parents and two younger siblings, Alex and Max.

He introduces her to his parents, Jerry and Teresa Russo, and they welcome her with open arms. They agree to give Lilly a job, and, to Lilly's surprise, a place to stay in their apartment. Justin seats her at a table as his parents make a "welcome sandwich" for Lilly.

"Justin, you didn't have to ask them if I could stay," she says. She wanted to argue with his parents and convince her that she could rent her own apartment with the money she made here, but she was afraid of breaking them; they were being too hospitable.

"Don't be ridiculous. It's gotta be tough living in New York since you just moved from... California, was it?"

"Yeah," she says, slowly stirring her diet soda with her straw. "But I'm an independent person. I don't want to have to lean on anybody to help support me."

He rolls eyes, "Whatever."

"Forget about me, Justin. Tell me about you," she says, nudging him with her knuckles as her welcome sandwich is placed in front of her. "I don't like to talk while I eat."

He nods, "Okay, well... I'm Justin. I'm 20 years old."

She stops him short, "College?" she asks quickly as she takes a bite.

He shakes his head, "Nope."

"Why not?" she asks.

"I'm waiting for Max to turn 18," he responds.

"Why?" she asks. Most older brothers would prefer to get away from their younger siblings, she thinks, not wait until their adults.

He opens his mouth, and then closes it. "It's... a little complicated."

She rolls her eyes, "Isn't everything?" She doesn't want to hear complicated. Her life is complicated. She has an ex-boyfriend in Malibu that she's in love with, she's stuck in New York and now living with a family that she doesn't even know, and he expects her to believe that his life is complicated?

"When you're in my world... yes," he responds, and she suddenly realizes that there's a secret about Justin Russo... and she isn't sure if she wants to know.

A/N:
The beginning to my short-multi-chaptered story. Don't get your hopes up for a full-length suspenseful tale about how these two fall in love and live happily ever after. It's simpler than that.
If you liked... review please? When it comes to multi-chaptered stories, I need the encouragement of reviews to keep me going about 25 percent of the time. Usually it's the ideas in my head that keep me going, but reviews are part of it too. (: