Rating: T. Contains minor language/adult themes and femslash.

Disclaimer: I do not own Hannah Montana.

Note: Sequel to 'Sleepsauce,' by demand, and because I was planning on doing it anyway :) You're welcome. Now go read the previous story before reading this one, as it will make more sense and because I told you to. And comment on it too :)

"Sometimes, only one person is missing, and the whole world seems depopulated." – Alphonse de Lamartine

It was a normal day, just like any other. Miley woke to the unpleasant nagging of the alarm, slapping it into silence before she had to endure another second of the nerve-grating sound. Sighing into her pillow with a last curse to whoever was listening up above, she angrily swung her legs out of the warm haven also known as her comforter, the dull ache and strain behind her eyes once again informing her that she would rather go back to sleep than spend another minute in a vertical position. They should stop making mattresses and pillows so god damn comfortable, that way making it all the easier to get out of bed in the morning.

As the cold drops of water from the struggling showerhead first hit her sugarplum-shocked body, she felt the sleep wash away. Miley really despised 8 am classes, especially since she developed into a nocturnal loving insomniac. Well, she wasn't really an insomniac, she just did her best thinking when the rest of the world was sound asleep. And it wasn't like she couldn't fall asleep; she just didn't want to fall asleep, because that meant less time away from her distractions and more time where her subconscious mind could play cruel jokes on her.

She turned the knob of the shower to cool, and then off, shivering as the water droplets drew the heat from her body. Boston was a completely different climate than Malibu, California, and the past four years had done nothing to acclimatize her to the frigid winters and muggy summers. Right now it was on the brink of spring, where the days varied from a lovely 65 degrees to an abysmal 30 degrees, and today it looked like it was leaning towards the abysmal side. Miley sighed as she dried herself off and began readying for the day. Two more months. Two more months and then she graduated and was free to leave this place.

It's not that she hated Boston. It was a great city, full of history and young people. But it was such a stark contrast to California, and while that was sometimes a good thing, over the past four years it had only worn her down as she realized she missed EVERYTHING about California, the people included. One person especially.

The cold seeped into her clothing as she stepped outside of her third story walk-up studio apartment in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood, quickly making her way to the nearest T stop as the freezing misty rain tried to zap the spirit out of her completely. Two more months, two more months, two more months, she repeated, over and over as she waited for the subway to make its belated appearance.

The rusty and outdated Green E train finally appeared, and Miley sat down in a lonely corner, slowly sipping her coffee as she willed her body to wake up. 8:30 was an ungodly hour for a class, especially as she neared the last half of her last semester of school. She knew back in high-school she used to get up this early, earlier even, for regular classes and the occasional Hannah appearance. But now her body didn't seem operable before noon.

As the train reached her station, she scurried her way to school, the heat of the building enveloping her as she entered and making her eyes droop. This was not going to be an easy morning to sit through. Her class was small, on a good day approximately 11 out of 13 people showed up, and since there was no exam, Miley had absolutely no incentive to pay attention.

The professor was late, again, and Miley silently cursed whoever was listening. She pulled her slim laptop from her bag and booted it up, quickly typing in the multiple passwords required to use the school internet, sign into her school account, and access Gmail. Gmail – that was the basis for her sanity the past four years.

It was early, and it was no surprise that everyone appeared off-line. Most of her friends were still asleep, particularly her west coast friends who wouldn't have to wake up for several more hours. Miley sighed. If she were home in California now, she would still be snuggled up under her covers. She switched her status to available anyway, knowing that the one person she wanted to talk to never appeared 'available' anyway. And there was a good chance she would be up.

The clock ticked on and her professor finally made his appearance, presenting the most unenthused lecture Miley had ever had to sit through. He attempted to involve the small class in a discussion of the material, but Miley could only pay attention to her laptop screen, refreshing the page and silently waiting. She knew she should be paying attention, that she was paying an extreme amount of money to hear what this monotonous old geezer had to say, but she couldn't manage to drag her eyes away from the screen.

She had been willing the small box to appear so intensely that it didn't register in her brain that the screen was now flashing. "Lilly says…"

8:55 AM Lilly: why you chatting in class huh? dont you know someone is bound to distract you

Miley grinned. She knew Lilly would be up, and bound to message her if she was available. Lilly was predictable in that way, and it comforted Miley knowing that she still had her best friend, even though the distance between them was the largest it had ever been, in more than just the geographical way. Her fingers quickly responded.

miles: because I'm a bad student :)

Lilly: ( . Y . ) ---boobies

Miley almost laughed out loud but smothered her amusement at the disdaining look her professor shot in her direction.

miles: you are bad

Lilly: i figured it was a worthy distraction
i am currently eating a bagel from noah's and drinking vivace coffee... HAHAH

8:57 AM miles: you suck. I am currently discussing an extremely boring piece of music in an era I could care less about.
Uck
not interesting at all

Her professor continued droning on, his words making absolutely no sense to Miley's sleep deprived and otherwise occupied mind. And to think she still had an hour and a half left in this class…

Lilly: i could send you naked pictures
that might spice it up
;)

Miley smiled, her heart rate increasing at her friends suggestion. It had been a long time since they had flirted with each other, if you could call this flirting, and Miley was excited. She knew she still felt the same as she did four years ago, had been completely unable to get the blonde off her mind to even attempt dating people out here. And there had been plenty of chances. But every time she went out, all she could think about was what Lilly would think of the restaurant she was in, or what Lilly would say about the lame joke just made, or how Lilly's blonde hair was prettier than the person's in front of her…

miles: I can see where your mind is today...

Lilly: i never said they would be naked pictures of me... and in truth i am just over caffeinated...
thinking of "distractions"
and when i think of distractions. they are usually sexually based
nothing else distracts me like sex
i figure it's the same for most

miles: it definitely is distracting
why not naked pictures of you?
are you shy Lilly? ;)

8:59 AM Lilly: nope

Lilly was quiet for several minutes and Miley was afraid she had gone too far. She didn't know what she could and couldn't say to her anymore. Over the past four years their phone calls had dwindled down to zero except for the few random text messages sent. And Miley hadn't spent the holidays in California since high school, her family always choosing to go to Tennessee instead, making the number of times Miley had seen Lilly in person countable on one finger. To say it had made their once inseparable friendship awkward would be an understatement. Her whole life had been a wide awake nightmare of conflicting emotions and Hannah craziness, and no matter how bad everything got, there had always been one thing that kept her going. That was Lilly. Their bond, their connection, whatever you wanted to call it. It made her feel like she wasn't alone, that she was part of something special. But for the first time in her life, she wasn't feeling that connection anymore. And it scared her. She didn't think she could stand losing Lilly permanently.

Suddenly an email popped up in her inbox. Lilly Truscott: naked pictures. Miley stifled a laugh.

9:05 AM Lilly: inbox

miles: i'm not going to open that in class.
people are sitting behind me

Lilly: hahahahaha

Miley glanced again at the email, tempted to open it. Her curiosity was raging and her heart was beating fast. She knew Lilly probably wouldn't send her naked pictures of herself, but her mind could only hope. She really missed hanging out on the beach back home, where she was free to stare at her best friend running around in a skimpy bikini. She hadn't done that in four years.

A change of subject was probably best here, as Miley wasn't sure how to safely respond or what Lilly was even thinking.

9:07 AM miles: have you started your new job?

9:09 AM Lilly: yeah

miles: hows it goin?

9:11 AM Lilly: all right. Got a few 'clients' through school connections. wed morning i will be at the Japanese rose garden near your house for someone's senior pictures. it's crazy, they are a Seaview High graduate. Kind of weird.
and the pics i sent you are safe to preview
not really naked
(you are going to have to do better than call me shy to get naked shots out of me)

A slow smile crept over Miley's face. She glanced up at her professor, making sure he was still unaware of her conversation and complete ignorance of his lecture.

9:15 AM miles: so the possibility exists?

Lilly: i mean i own a few cameras (as a photography student, you kind of have to), have the ability to undress, and am quite adept with this here internets

9:19 AM miles: that can be dangerous

9:21 AM Lilly: yeah well... I'd tell you its what my middle initial stands for, but you already know thats a lie

Miley did know that was a lie. The D stood for Danielle, a fact that very few people knew. Lilly hated the name. Secretly, Miley kind of liked it.

"All right class, I think we'll take a break here. Make sure you're back in class at 9:35." Miley almost didn't hear her professor but at the commotion of her classmates getting up and leaving the room, she realized she was halfway through the class already. Lilly definitely made it go by faster. She closed the lid of her laptop so no one could read her conversation, grabbed her coffee thermos, and left to the cafeteria to get a refill. The past four years had only increased her reliance on the drink and Miley was now a coffee addict.

She got back to the room early, not even the professor was in the classroom yet, and eagerly opened her laptop. She didn't want to keep Lilly waiting, nor did she want to stop talking to her for any reason. But more importantly, she had an email with an intriguing title still sitting unopened in her inbox.

Miley glanced around the empty classroom before clicking on the email. There were a couple lines of text followed by two image thumbnails:

"Bikini…

That's as close as you're going to get, Miles…for now.

/LT
over."

Miley's eyebrow raised at the comment. For now? Her palms were suddenly sweaty and she moved her finger over the mouse pad of her laptop to the first image and clicked.

It was a self-taken picture in what appeared to be a department store dressing room. Only her top half was captured in the picture, her small breasts covered by a wide-band halter bikini top, colored a deep turquoise that made her eyes appear almost like the gem itself. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail and Miley found her eyes travelling along the length of her neck, across her chest and down to the toned stomach below.

Miley swallowed thickly as her fingers travelled to click on the next picture. It was a side shot of her entire body this time and Miley's eyes widened as her heart beat painfully hard against her ribcage. Oh, God. It had been a while since she had seen Lilly so scantily dressed and the years had been more than kind to her. Gone was any remaining trace of baby fat and in it's place was a well defined and womanly body. Being 22 definitely agreed with Lilly.

Students began to slowly enter the room and Miley quickly closed out of the email. Her breathing was slightly rapid and she noticed she was shaking. Close to 3,000 miles and almost four years separated them, but God, the things that girl could do to her without even touching her.

Miley clicked back on the chat box, eager to let Lilly know she hadn't abandoned their conversation. Now what had they been talking about? Ah yes, Lilly's love of danger.

9:32 AM miles: :)
you do seem to gravitate to those types of activities

Lilly: "those types?"

miles: risky

Lilly: pshhhh
i would not call sending pictures to your best friend "risky"

Miley smiled. So Lilly still thought of her as her best friend. That was good, as she had been afraid that someone might have taken her place. Lilly was very friendly, with a magnetic personality that seemed to draw everybody in wherever she went. And Lilly was very active, at the beach or skate park almost every day when she wasn't doing schoolwork…

miles: what do you call skateboarding and pulling off insane tricks in the air, and surfing in the Pacific in areas with undertow warnings?

Lilly: FUN!
no
i know
there is a risk

miles: yes well, you never know what I may choose to do with those pics too :)

Lilly: im a boring gal tho
i trust you
thats the thing
thats where the risk comes from
and naked pics of me wouldn't be pretty.
Not as nice to look at like you pretty lady

Her uninspiring professor chose this moment to start class again and Miley cringed at the sound of his monotonous voice. Could the guy make this class any more mind-numbingly boring? It was no wonder few people signed up for the class, and fewer actually showed up for it.

She was even more annoyed because she had to pretend to pay attention for a few minutes instead of responding to Lilly. Which might be a good thing, since she didn't know what to say. She had already seen the pictures. Didn't Lilly know she was beautiful? She had such a pretty face with striking blue eyes, and a trim, athletic build from years of skateboarding and surfing. With straight, white teeth and an enviable complexion, she looked very much like a super-healthy version of the all-American girl-next-door. Add to that her silky, sandy blonde hair with natural golden highlights to die for, and spunky style. Miley had deemed her adorable. And unbelievably sexy, something she knew the blonde was unaware of.

9:47 AM miles: i don't think you're boring. i can think of much more boring people, especially ones i've met here...

Yes, she could think of plenty people more boring. In fact, nobody had really caught her interest here in the past four years at all. She had a few friends, but no one that she was very close with or even really fond of. Nobody like Lilly.

miles: and yes, there is always risk with trust
but i trust you too

Lilly: whatever, i am mega boring these days. No time for fun. I don't hang out.

Miley had a hard time believing that Lilly could ever be boring, it just wasn't part of her nature. Everything she said, as this conversation was proof of, was entertaining. Or maybe Miley just thought that because she was still hopelessly in love with her…

9:49 AM miles: whatever. it's not what you do but who you are that makes you interesting.
you're still one of my fav people to talk to

Lilly: awwww
(my insides are all warm)
^probably the coffee

She couldn't contain the laugh that time, and with a glare from her professor she closed the lid of her laptop. She couldn't afford to fail this class just because she had pissed off the teacher, that wouldn't go over well when she told her dad why she was short credits for graduation. Plus, that would just mean more time that she had to stay here in beantown and not at home, reuniting with Lilly.

Miley stared blankly at the board in front of her, chin supported in the palm of her hand as her mind wandered away from the lecture again. It was true. Distance did make the heart grow fonder. Just two more months. Two more months and then she was out of here. Two more months and then her heart wouldn't ache quite so much.

Questions, comments, or concerns? Yeah I know, you are probably still disappointed with how this one ended too. I should have done these as a short story, but you'll be getting one final one-shot to finish this series off. And I have no idea what you study in music school, so forgive me for that. Also, all grammar/spelling errors in the chat were intentional as nobody writes/types correctly in those.

So…please hit that review button down there and tell me how you feel. I got more favorites than reviews for 'Sleepsauce,' and this time I'm hoping to get the opposite. I like that you favorite the story, but I appreciate your thoughts even more!