She lay there staring at the ceiling wondering why she wasn't asleep, she and Miley had done the usual: watched TV until they were a little sleepy, taken ages to get ready to get for bed and finally ended with talking late in to the night but yet here she was staring at Miley's ceiling, still not asleep.
'That's it, I need fresh air.' She thought as she crept out of the trundle bed in which she had been trying to sleep.
She slowly crept down the stairs to the first floor careful not to wake anybody; she wasn't sure how she was supposed to explain creeping around the house in the middle of the night. She went past the piano and outside onto the patio, where she sat and started to think. She was deep in thought when she felt a hand on her shoulder she jumped and turned around.
"Oh, Jackson it's you, you nearly gave me a heart attack." She said in a hushed voice looking up at him.
'Wow, I never realised just how beautiful her eyes are and the way her silky hair frames her gentle porcelain face, stop it, Jackson, stop it, this is Lily, Miley's best friend Lily, your LITTLE sister best friend Lily your talking about.'
"Can't sleep?" she noticed he didn't apologise first.
"No, you?" she replied with a scowl.
"Nah, been having sleeping troubles for awhile now, how about you, what's your excuse?" He answered as he lowered himself down to her level.
"Got a lot on my mind, that's all, I'll be fine." She answered looking straight in to his baby blues 'his beautiful baby blue's' she continued internally, "whoa girl this is Jackson, cool it, you like him but now is not the time, wait, stop that, he's Miley's brother there is never going to be a time.' She scolded herself.
"Look, Lily…" At sound of her name she snapped out of it.
"I know I'm not Miley but I can be a good listener and I won't repeat a word you say to me tonight to anyone, including Miley, you know, if you want to talk..." He told her with sincerity in his eyes.
"Jackson…that's very sweet of you, but it's…it's something I can't even tell Miley…and its really getting to me, I think I need to be alone…" she struggled to fight back her tears.
As she turned to leave he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him at first she pulled away but he wouldn't let her go and he pulled her closer to him. It was in that moment, in his arms, as she was being held tight, she finally felt safe. She let out a quiet sob, it didn't seem much, but for him it was a signal that she wasn't going to be fine.
"Lil, I don't want to pressure you, but I think you really need to talk about this, you know get whatever it is off your chest." He met her gaze his eyes pleading with her.
"I really can't…but thanks…" she said her face still buried in his PJ shirt.
"For what?" he looked at her questioningly
"Not letting me go off on my own, It was a dumb idea." She looked up at him as she explained.
Although the inner battle had been going on in his head as to whether he should fight what he was feeling for Lily right now, it was his heart that won as he lifted her chin towards his face and gently placed his lips on hers. At first she didn't react as the shock of Jackson kissing her stunned her, when she had fully realised what was going on she pushed him away."We can't do this, we can't happen, I'm out here upset because we can't do this and you go and…I have to get out of here!" she said her eyes streaming as she began to run down the beach.
Unbeknownst to the pair outside two people watched them from the table in the kitchen.
Robby Ray was thinking:
'I'm going to kill that boy! Not only has he gone and hurt Lily but by doing that he's gone and hurt Miley too, he better go after Lily and make this right if only to save him from what I'll do to him if he doesn't!' His daughter had similar thoughts. 'That SOB I'm going to kill him for kissing my best friend and then for making her cry. God I don't know the last time I saw her cry like that, he's really done it this time. Oh my gosh! She's sitting alone on the beach in the middle of the night that's dangerous I got to go after her!'
Before she even got completely out of her seat her fathers hand was on her arm meaning she should sit back down. "But Dad…." She whined"Miley this is Jackson's problem let him sort it out."
'Me! She's crying over me.'
He ran down to the beach and he slowed when he saw her, she was sitting, crying, with her knees drawn under her and her hair was blowing slightly in one direction. He realised the extent of his feelings for her when just seeing her like that made his heart break.
"Lily." He spoke first this time as to not give her such a fright.
"Lily, I'm sorry, I had no idea you felt that way about me, if I had known, I would have handled things differently, I'm sorry!" he said feeling as sad as she looked.
"It's fine, just forget about it." She stood and started to walk of.
'Again' he though
"Lily wait!" he said hoping she would stop, she did not.
He caught up and grabbed both her arms and held her facing him.
"We have to talk about this." He said trying to make eye contact; she would not look at him.
"No, we don't, its fine." She said longing to look into his baby blue's knowing she could not.
"Would you stop saying that, you're obviously not fine, you won't even look at me!" Again he tried to get eye contact; again she shied away.
"Arrrrgh!" She yelled, frustrated.
"The reason I can't look at you is because every time I do I think things I REALLY shouldn't be thinking about my best friends brother!!" She said at nearly yelling volume.
At this he grabbed her chin and forced her to make eye contact. He noticed her eyes widen slightly and he saw in her a longing for him, it made him want to kiss her, he knew he had to put thoughts like that out of his head forever. He knew he had to fix this, so he let go of her arms and took her hand in his, and then he began:
"Lily, I want to say something and I don't want you to interrupt me till I'm done, ok?" he said swallowing a lump in his throat.
"Ok." Now she looked him in the eye.
"Ok…well…when you let slip your feelings for me I wasn't going to tell you this, but…here goes…. Lily I like you too!" He paused to see how she was taking it; she was staring wide eyed, he continued.
"I have for about a year and a half and I didn't want to say anything for the exact same reason as you but tonight when I saw you crying on the beach it actually hurt me to see you cry and I realised that since you had confided in me albeit accidentally, that you deserved to know the truth. I'm sorry if this makes it worse but you don't have to worry I'm going off to uni in a couple of months so you won't have to see me and I won't be there everyday when you come over, so you can just get on with your life…. oh and again I'm sorry, sorry for everything!"
He then let go of her hand and walked off head hung low.
"Jackson, wait!" She started to follow
He turned to see her coming towards him, when she got to him she asked,
"What if I don't want to get on with my life without you?"
"Huh, what do mean, we cant…" He trailed stunned by what she had just said.
"I know, but do you think we could try and be friends, you know, for Miley's sake?"
"Yeah, on one condition."
"And that is?" she asked, curious.
"That we are going to be friends because we want to be, not to please other people."
"Ok, deal…. so, friends?" She asked.
"Friends!" He confirmed and they hugged at which point she kissed him on the cheek
He blushed and they walked back to the house together to find Miley and Mr. Stewart asleep on the porch. They had obviously been spying on the two of them and had fallen asleep, she'd tell Miley what happened later, she was pooped but as she headed up to bed she walked past Jackson's door and poked her head in.
"Goodnight Jackson, sleep well!"
"Goodnight Lily, sweet dreams!"
As he lay in bed he felt worn out and he found he now had an answer to his sleep troubles, think of Lily.
As she lay in bed she felt her eyes closing involuntarily and discovered that she had solved her sleepless nights problem, just think of his baby blues.