Oliver Oken is woken up at 7:45 on the first Monday of summer vacation. It is not the scenario he has in mind for his day. He'd spent last night surfing until practically dawn with Lilly, (truth be told not much surfing was actually done, they'd mostly sat on his board in the middle of the ocean and floated around watching the stars) and he'd planned to sleep until mid-afternoon and then repeat the process again that night.
As it happens though, the universe always seems to have different plans for him. So there he is only three hours of sleep under his belt and music is blaring out of wherever he tossed his phone last night. His first instinct is to throw his pillow over his head and go back to sleep but then he realizes what song is playing, Fix You by Coldplay. So he groans, and climbs out of his bed (really he falls, hitting his head against his desk but he doesn't like to think about it) and crawls over to where it lies.
"Hello?" He answers groggily, it's too early for the Lillypop, Olliepop nonsense. Besides, they only really do that to bug Miley.
"Oliver?" She sniffles, as if someone else would answer his phone.
The sniffling part sets in after his mental sarcasm, "What's wrong Lilly?" He doesn't know why he whispers, but it's something he's always done when she's upset.
"My mom…" She chokes, she never could keep the tears in when she heard his voice. "She and I g-got in this fight-"
"Where are you?" He interrupts, if she was at home she would have simply climbed in his window and sobbed until he finally came into consciousness.
"Dunkin' Donuts," She mumbles, and he hears the noise of her rubbing her sleeve against the phone, probably to dry it off. "The one next to the country store."
"I'm on my way."
He goes to click off the phone but he hears, "WAIT!" And cradles the receiver against his ear. "Can you stay on?" She says almost inaudibly and he feels his heart sink. "You don't have to talk or anything."
"Sure." He smiles weakly, "I'll even put on Radiohead for you on my car radio."
"Not today," She mutters, and he wonders what she suddenly has against Creep when it's all she's ever wanted to listen to before. "Maybe you could just put on your Billy Joel CD?"
So he walks out to the car and he does. Before he even pulls out of the driveway, all he can hear is Lullabye at the most deafeningly loud level his stereo can go on. He can still here her though when his tires are squealing down the street, her sharp intake at the song's first lines. And he tries to ignore it, but her silence is speaking just as loud as anything else.
He gets there a little earlier then usual, so it's worth the car accident he almost got into pulling on to Pleasant Street. And he doesn't see her sitting in the coffee stop from the glass windows outside. "Look behind you," She says, and he thinks he detects just the smallest trace of amusement in her voice now. And he's proud of his idiocy for once.
So he turns around towards the park on the other side of the street, his eyes skim the still dew-wet benches and the over-treated bright green grass. He sees her, huddled on the unfinished gazebo at it's edge, and swings his door open, making his way to her. When he gets there he slides down, careful not to sit on her iPod which is laid out next to her. "Hi," He offers meakly.
"Hi," She mumbles, not looking at him.
There's possibly the first awkward silence between them since they started dating, "So she just dumped you here?" It probably isn't the best way to approach the subject but he's never been very tactful.
"I told her that Dean wants to move in with Dad at the end of the summer," She hides her face beneath her hair as she says it. And he knows she feels guilty for blowing her brother's secret. He also knows that it's been eating her alive for a week now. "And she took it out on me."
"Lils," He puts a hand on her tentatively. And she looks up at him. He shouldn't really be thinking it, but she's beautiful when she's been crying. Her cheeks are salt-stained and red and her lashes glisten with water, but mostly it's her eyes themselves. Whenever there's tears involved they turn this breathtakingly bright green until she's happy again. It's his job to make this happen, but he always misses them a little when their gone.
"I k-know that I could have been more careful about it," She says in a strangled voice, and the droplets begin to spill on her perfect cheeks again. "I was just trying to save us though. I don't want to loose him, Oliver," She's sobbing into his neck now. "I love him, I really, really do. And I don't think I could stand it if he left too."
Something aches in his chest and he knows what's really wrong, "You tried to call your dad, didn't you?"
She bites her lip, glances at him, and nods into him. "He didn't pick up." She shakes her head. "Lils…"
"I know it's his problem, but I miss him, you know?" He does know. By the fact that she flickers her eyes away from the picture of them on her mantel, by the lengths she goes to the avoid talking about that when she'll babble about anything else, by that sad far-off look she gets sometimes.
"I know," He kisses her forehead, even though they both know he really has no idea. "But I'm here, you can talk to me." She doesn't even respond to this. "Or you could just beat on me a little," He can feel her start to smile. "Or just belittle me, Oliver Oken 'Doughnut boy' at your service. First three insults are free," She's giggling, and he starts tickling her. "Limited time offer, expires the next time I come in contact with Miley."
"Stop it," She breathes between laughs. "Come on, Ollie, I'm upset."
"Really, you aren't though," He grins, pinning her down to the ground. "Because it isn't raining, and you like the park." Then he grimaces, "And you aren't the one who just put your hand in dog poop." Except when she rolls over on her side in hysterics he can't help but smile again because he sees a flash of blue. And his job just got a lot easier.
AN: Brought to you by fighting with my mother. And my friend Bailey, who didn't pin me to the ground or anything, but she's still awesome for coming out to counsel me at 8 am.