Thursday, April 9, 2009

Lilly did not walk up to Miley the next morning at school and profess her undying love. She was surprised, however, to see Miley standing in the school parking lot seeming to be waiting on something or someone. She was leaning against her gold Mustang and glancing at her watch while she played with her hair. Lilly pulled into her normal spot while Joannie, in her light blue '68 Bug, pulled up next to her. The blonde saw Miley's head snap up at the sound of the hemi cutting off and a large, wide smile graced that gorgeous face as she looked over at the pickup.

"Do not drool, Truscott. Do not drool," Lilly chanted to herself, but she couldn't keep the grin off her lips. Miley was wearing her cheerleader uniform with its too-short, sky blue and white pleated skirt and white sleeveless tank with the roaring cougar on it. The outfit exposed long, shapely legs, slender arms and, because it was the same one she'd had last year, a touch of her belly. Lilly wiped her lips just to be sure there was no leaking spittle before getting out of her truck to meet the girl who was already making her way toward her. She snarled at the giggling she heard coming from her best friend behind her.

"That outfit ought to be illegal," Lilly murmured to herself but realized her voice must have carried in the cool morning air because Miley's lips turned up into a smirk and her eyes sparkled with devilment as she struck a pose with a hand on one hip and a knee canted.

"Like what you see?" Miley purred and then blushed scarlet and covered her face with her hands. "Please tell me I did not just say that!" Both the flirty and the flustered Miley were just too damned cute Lilly thought.

"You did, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't," Lilly chuckled in a low voice that sent a shiver down the brunette's spine and curled her toes. The blonde felt her own cheeks flushing from that admission, but luckily her best friend came to her rescue.

"Miley Ray Stewart, you are hereby placed under citizen's arrest for being too damned sexy," Joannie laughed which caused Miley to giggle. Two girls flirting with each other was one thing; three was something else entirely. Joannie slid an eye to her friend who mouthed a silent 'thank you' to her. The darker blonde just grinned in return.

"Are you thinking of switching to the other team?" Miley asked Joannie with a giggle.

"No," Joannie smiled and then glanced sidelong at Lilly, "although this girl's voice, when she gets all sexy and sultry like that, could get just about anyone thinking that being a switch hitter might not be such a bad thing."

"Oh?" Miley smirked at her. "Been having any good phone sex?" It was Joannie's turn to blush. The taller blonde got a bit defensive, but a smile still graced her features as she replied in a soft, shy voice.

"You try listening to her on the phone when she gets like that and then tell me you don't think about touching yourself." Lilly lifted an eyebrow at this little surprise confession which caused Joannie to blush even harder.

"Sounds like we need to talk on the phone," Miley teased the green-eyed girl. Lilly laughed.

"I'll need to get your number for that."

"All right," Miley smiled that broad smile that showed her perfect white teeth as she reached into her backpack and pulled out her cell. She handed it to Lilly who put in both her home and cell number and then looked up Miley's so that she could put it in her own. With the phone returned, Miley slipped an arm through each of the other girls' and started leading them toward the steps of the school. "Feel free to call me anytime," she said while looking over at the slightly shorter pitcher. She hadn't realized that Lilly was shorter than she was even if it was only by an inch or so. "Maybe you can get me to touch myself," she giggled.

"Is that a dare?" Lilly smirked.

"Maaaybe," Miley replied with her own smirk and then giggled again.

"Be careful, Miley," Joannie laughed. "Lilly never turns down a dare." She spied her boyfriend Todd waiting for her on the school steps so she reclaimed her arm and with a wave trotted off to be gathered up in his arms and receive her morning kiss. Lilly sighed as she turned her head away.

"What's wrong?" Miley asked her.

"Just jealous," Lilly replied softly. "Joannie and Todd have been together for almost a year now. I'm glad that she's happy with him, and I know he loves her, but…"

"But it hurts as well because there's no one here like that for you," Miley said knowingly with true concern in the too deep blue eyes she turned on her. Lilly nodded.

"There was a girl over at Chandler who I spoke with once, but we realized that there wasn't any spark pretty quickly. Last time I saw her at a game she was sitting in the stands holding another girl's hand. I won't ever break up another couple even if I decided I liked someone." Which is why I never got between you and Jake, she thought to herself.

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Miley smiled at her, but was still concerned with the tone of Lilly's voice. It sounded so forlorn and resigned. Like she'd given up all hope of ever finding someone to love.

By that time they'd arrived inside the school and had to go their separate ways to get the things that they'd need for class out of their lockers before they met back in their classroom.

Crowley High was like a lot of other small town high schools. There'd been a slight baby boom a few years both before and after Lilly was born so there were a few more teens in the high school than there usually was. There were enough students in the school that they'd been able to split them out into eight classrooms, two per grade, with a student/teacher ratio of about twelve to one. Unlike larger schools, most lessons occurred in the same classroom including English (grammar, literature appreciation, and creative writing), Math (pre-Algebra all the way to the start of Calculus), History/Government and Biology/Chemistry although all classes shared the same chemistry lab for their experiments.

They did switch classrooms for some few elective courses that the school offered including Computer Programming and Web Design, Home Economics and Personal Finance, Art, Chorus, Band and Orchestra, Auto Shop and, of course, Physical Education. Between the mandatory classes and the electives, a student could garner over their four-year high school career a sufficient selection of classes that would make any college or university happy.

Most of the mandatory classes occurred before and just after lunch with the electives falling during the afternoons. The PE classes went throughout the day since all students had to use the same gym, track and combination football and soccer field.

Perry County wasn't a rich county by any means, but neither was it exactly the poorest in the state. However it wasn't the semi-decent salaries, benefits and low cost of living that drew the teachers in. It was predominantly the relatively peaceful and relaxed lifestyle in a countryside which was idyllic by anyone's standards.

After grabbing some things from her new locker, Lilly walked into Karen Kunkle's classroom and found her usual seat at the center of the back row. Assigned seating wasn't necessary with such a small group of students and it had taken all of a day for Lilly to find herself the lone occupant of that row except for her friend Joannie who normally sat in the desk to her left. Today, however, she found a somewhat bouncy cheerleader taking the usually unoccupied seat to her right.

"Are you sure you want to be seen back here?" she asked Miley sotto voce. She'd meant it to be a gentle warning of what might happen if people thought that the brunette was hanging out with the 'lez,' but she hadn't expected the slightly hurt look on the girl's face.

"Don't you want me sitting with you?"

"Of course I do!" Lilly exclaimed in a loud whisper, "I just don't want you to have to endure some of the things I've had to if people get the wrong idea."

"And what would be 'the wrong idea,' Lilly?" Miley asked with her arms crossed over her chest and a raised eyebrow that told Lilly she'd better be smart in how she answered the question.

"Well…you know…like…we were…you know…together," the blonde stammered.

"And would that be such a bad thing?" Miley asked softly, with a touch of a smirk to her lips.

"Yes! I mean no! I-I mean," but Miley had started giggling at how flustered Lilly had become, bringing a scowl to the blonde's lips.

"Let them think what they want," the blue-eyed girl smiled at her, making Lilly's heart melt like a tub of butter left outside on a hot August day. "It's been too long since we've had a chance to be together. I'm just now starting to remember all the good times we had when we were kids. I don't want to give that up."

"Oh, gee, thanks," Lilly scoffed and crossed her arms over her own chest in feigned indignation. "It's nice to know that I'm so forgettable?"

"No! That's not what I meant," Miley exclaimed defensively and was going to go on until she saw the laughter in her friend's eyes. "You're a meanie," she pouted instead.

"Yeah, but you want me," Lilly purred in that soft, low, sexy voice that had shivers running up and down Miley's spine until they all came together in one central point just about where her thighs joined.

"Joannie was right," the brunette said breathily with a pink tinge to her cheeks. "You've definitely got a career in phone sex or even as a voice actress for porn movies if you ever wanted to."

"Oh? And would you be interested if I were?" Lilly drawled again and that small flame sparked a bit higher in Miley's core.

"I don't know," she smiled, trying to cover up with levity the way Lilly was making her feel, "call me tonight and I'll let you know," she grinned.

"It's a date," Lilly replied with a smoldering look that would have had her weak in the knees if she hadn't already been sitting down. "I get off work at nine tonight, so how about I give you a call around ten. That should still be early enough for you to take a cold shower before bedtime if you have to," she chuckled evilly, sending another shiver down the blue-eyed girl's spine.

"I'll be waiting," she grinned. Miley was sure that she'd never looked more forward to a simple telephone call than she did this one.

-oo-

Lilly was out on the mound throwing warm-up pitches to Joannie while Miley and her fellow cheerleaders were warming up the crowd. Amber and Ashley had both continued to protest their innocence over what had been done to Lilly's locker and since Miley didn't have any direct proof she couldn't really throw them off the team. Even as Captain of the squad she really didn't have that kind of power anyway. Only their teacher-advisor, Ms. Daniels, could do something like that. However, that didn't mean that she couldn't give the two girls extra jobs, like helping to bring the cooler of sports drink out to the dugout so the softball players didn't get dehydrated. Both girls groused loudly over the indignity of having to perform such menial labor, complaining all the while about how they might break a nail, but all they got out of their Captain was a smile and a somewhat less than sincere thanks for their efforts.

The phone call the previous evening between her and Lilly had been relatively short but it had still been a lot of fun. Miley still couldn't believe that she'd forgotten more than five years' worth of memories between the two of them. She really hadn't wanted the call to end even if she couldn't get Lilly to try out her phone sex voice on her. Unfortunately her father called up to her to tell her that her Aunt Dolly was on the other line and wanted to speak with her. They'd ended up promising to talk again and the brunette had hung up with a sigh, for some reason looking forward to school more than she had in a long time.

The game was in the top of the fifth inning and the Cougars were leading 2-1 when Miley started a chant of "Lilly-Lilly-Lilly." The crowd was getting into it and she could see the smarmy smile on the blonde pitcher's lips when she heard a male voice in the crowd start up a counter chant.

"Lezzy-Lezzy-Lezzy." Miley scanned the crowd only to find the suspended Jake Ryan on the top row of bleachers out near first base. He'd brought his crew with him and they were laughing and chanting along with him. A few of the other students in the stands caught up the chant and soon the sound of "Lezzy-Lezzy-Lezzy" was overshadowing her own cheering. Seeing the anger on the brunette's face, Jake came sauntering down the bleachers to stand in front of her.

"Hey babe," he said with a smirk as he tried to put his arms around her waist. Miley twisted and stepped back away from him, her anger only growing.

"Don't 'babe' me you jerk. What do you think you're doing? Why are you even here? You're suspended for the rest of the week!"

"First, it's a public game so I can't be kept out. Second," he sneered, "I'm just letting everyone know what a freak lezbo Truscott is. I like to think I'm doing my public service to ensure that all the parents of the little kiddies know just what a pervert they're supporting."

"If anyone here's a freak and perv it's you!" Miley spat. "You've been trying, unsuccessfully mind you, to get in my pants ever since freshman year. And don't think I haven't heard the rumors about you and your little sex parties." She turned a quick glare at Ashley and Amber, both of which looked guilty as sin at her words. "But even that's not the worst thing about you. No, you're also a bully and a ho-mo-phobe," she drawled the word. "You know what they say about those who protest too much?" she smirked.

While she'd been yelling at him she'd slowly been forcing him back against the chain link fence surrounding the field.

"Hey, Jake!" he heard a familiar voice yell out to him from the field. He turned just in time for a fast pitch softball to hit the fence at just the right height and with enough speed that galvanized metal contacted button-down blue jeans which contacted family jewels. The end result was Jake writhing on the dirt clutching himself and groaning in pain.

"Uh, ball?" the ump called out in confusion at the wild pitch.

"Make it two," Lilly smirked as her teammates cheered her on.

-oo-

"And payback's a bitch," Lilly spat out a glob of blood and used her tongue to make sure that none of her teeth were loose. After the game Jake and two of his pack had tried to corner her as she came out of the locker room after most everyone else had left. She'd quickly taken down one of the boys with a well-placed baseball to the crotch, but that still left two. Jake and the other had been able to get in a few good blows, including a hard right to her jaw and another fist to her left eye before they thought they heard someone coming and had run off rather than chance getting caught, gathering up their fallen comrade along the way.

She'd acquitted herself fairly well she thought. The second boy was going to be sporting at least one nice shiner by the morning along with a few bruises. It didn't surprise her in the least that Jake kept pushing the other boy at her and then striking out at her from behind when she was otherwise occupied. Even still, she'd gotten in a couple of good licks, just not on the one target she'd really hoped for.

It was the first time that she'd been physically assaulted in such a manner since she'd come out of the closet back in eighth grade. She'd been pushed and tripped over the years, but never had anyone actually raised a fist to her before today. She didn't know if it was the fact that Miley had broken up with him, that he'd gotten caught and suspended for threatening her in front of a school official and possibly defacing her locker, or because Lilly had bruised his ego along with his nads at the game.

Maybe it was all three.

All the blonde knew was that Jake Ryan blamed her for everything that was now going wrong in his life and had finally decided that he wanted to take it out on her flesh rather than on what little decent reputation she had left to her. That she'd been able to make him that angry almost made her smile with malicious glee until the stretching of her jaw muscles reminded her that it might not be such a good idea.

With a sigh Lilly trudged over to where her truck was parked, not really wanting to head over to her job but needing the money more than she wanted to lie down on her nice sweet bed with a bag or two of ice. She also knew it would be a waste of time to report her assault to good 'ol Sheriff Duffy. The man was nice enough and did a decent enough job, but he couldn't create evidence or find witnesses that didn't exist. It would be a case of 'he said-she said' and the whole thing would quietly go away…until the next time. It wasn't worth the effort. She had a better chance taking care of the situation herself than she did relying on others.

More bad news was waiting for her in the parking lot. All four of the tires on her truck had been slashed and it was sitting on its rims.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she cursed under her breath. "That's all I need. I haven't saved up enough yet to replace them all!" She kicked the driver's side front tire and let out a screech of fury before reaching into her bag and pulling out her cell phone. She called her job and informed Tanya, Ed's wife who sometimes worked the cash register, that she'd be late getting to work if she made it in at all. Her next call was to Eli Jacobson over at his auto repair shop to have him come and tow her truck in.

"You'll need the flatbed," she sighed as she spoke to him on the phone. "And I'm going to need to set up some kind of payment plan on the replacement tires. I can give you about six hundred once I hit the bank, but I'll have to owe you for the rest."

"Don't worry, missy," Eli told her. She could hear the disappointment in his voice. She just wasn't sure whether it was due to the tire slashing or to the fact that he'd have to run her a tab. His next words answered her question. "I know you're good for it, girl. Don't you worry about that. You take whatever time you need and don't go depleting your bank account. You might need some of that for other reasons." She could hear both the concern and caring in his voice and found a small smile touching her lips. "I've got your size in stock and should be able to have you back on the road about an hour after I get her up on the lift."

"Yeah, like no one around here owns a 4X4," Lilly snickered. Her truck tire and size was probably the most prevalent one he had in stock given the number of pickups in the area and the condition of the mostly pothole filled roads. "I'll see you in a few…and Eli?"

"Yeah, girl?"

"Thanks," she said softly, meaning so much more than just what that one word could convey.

"I'll be out quick as I can, Lilly," he replied and this time she could hear the smile in his voice.

Her next call was to her mother to explain what had happened. Once she'd calmed Heather down about both the fight and the tires, she had to try to talk her out of paying the additional amount that she hadn't saved up for yet. That took until Eli showed up with his tow truck.

"Look, Mom, Eli's here so I got to go, but thanks anyway for offering. If you've got money burning a hole in your pocket why don't you splurge on something for yourself? You need the TLC more than I do. Yeah, I got it," she chuckled as she tossed her keys over to the big black man walking up to her. "Okay, love you too. I'll see you when I get home from work. Love ya. Bye."

"How'd Heather take it?" Eli asked from where he had his head stuck in her driver's door to make sure the truck wasn't in gear and that the parking brake was on until he got the chains hooked up.

"About what you'd expect, Eli," Lilly replied with a snort, trying hard not to allow her anger to come back full force nor to let the tears she felt gathering somewhere behind her eyeballs to get any closer to the surface. "She was worried at first and then pissed as shit before getting worried again. I think I finally got her settled down, at least until I get home tonight." The big man gave a low grunt of agreement before backing out to take a better look at her face.

"Your jaw and left eye are going to be about as black as I am when you wake up in the morning Lilly. You sure you're okay?" he asked, his deep bass voice filled with genuine concern.

"Yeah, thanks," the blonde replied with a sad smile and a waggle of her aching jaw. "You shoulda seen the other guy, well, at least two of them. I definitely gave better than I got on two out of the three."

Eli whistled. "Three on one? Who'd you piss off that badly?" the older man asked over his shoulder as he walked back to his truck to start the process of loading up her old hemi.

"Do you really need to guess?" was her snarky reply as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against a fender.

"Next time Jake comes in for gas I'll be sure to add a little sugar to his tank," Eli growled. There was a hint of laughter in his voice, but Lilly was pretty sure there was a whole lot of anger in there as well. It was more than nice to know that not everybody in the town hated her and that there were even those that would support her instead of simply turning a blind eye or sticking their head in the sand.

The two went on to talk about everything but the fight and tires as he drove her back to his shop where, true to his word, she was fixed up and out the door in less than an hour with four brand new off-road tires mounted and balanced. He'd even given her a four-wheel alignment while he had her in the shop "free of charge." She'd tried to pay for it or get him to add it to her tab, but the older man wouldn't hear of it. "Consider it my donation to the Free the Lesbians Crusade," he'd laughed. His kindness was what finally brought the tears to her eyes, but only after she'd left him and then found a safe place on the side of the road where she could cry in private.