Okay so first off, Happy New Years! I'm trying to update on a regular basis and so that I do not get behind, because I can only write when I'm in a certain mood, weird, I know. And recently I have not been able to write on this story because my laptop charger broke, just my luck! Anyways... So in case you are wondering, this story is going to be a love story and no Hannah Montana, although Miley is talented. I felt like it was something I needed to get out. So here's chapter 4, enjoy!
Go ahead tell me you'll leave again,
You'll just come back runnin
Holding your scarred heart at hand
It's all the same...
The next morning I woke up to see that I had a text from Miley telling me to come over to her house when I woke up. I'm smiled at the text before replying that I was fixing to take a shower and then I'd be over. I showered, threw on a pair of skinny jeans and a black halter top, straightened my hair, and added a touch of make-up. I headed downstairs and found that mom had made my favorite breakfast food, french toast.
"What's the occasion?" I asked, helping myself to some french toast and pouring syrup on them.
Mom looked me over suspiciously, "No occasion, where you headed today?"
"Miley's," I replied.
"I see. She's quiet the catch Lilly, a good ol' country girl, and a gorgeous one at that," Mom said, smiling.
I turned red and almost choked on the french toast. "Mom we're just friends. Nothing more," I stated.
"Oh so its safe to say that you've made a friend?" she questioned.
I thought for a second, an odd expression showing on my face. "Yeah I guess I have," I said, smiling widely at the fact that Miley is my friend.
I kissed my mom on the cheek, slipped on my flip flops and headed over to Miley's. The first thing I noticed was that she was standing beside Blue Jeans, the second thing I noticed was the outfit she was wearing. She had on cut-off jean shorts, so short that the ends of the pockets hung out of them, a black tank top that had lace around the bottom and cut low on her cleavage area, which was accented nicely, her cowboy boots that went up to the middle of her toned calf muscle, and to top it all off, a black cowboy hat sat on top of her gorgeous chestnut curls. I had to close my mouth before I started to drool, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away. As I approached she waved and I waved back.
She looked down at my flip flops and laughed, "Lilly, now those will never do, hold on and I'll go get you my other pair of boots for you to borrow."
I hadn't realized what she'd said at first but soon spoke up, "Wait for what?"
"We're riding today," she simply said and ran inside.
I could feel my heart rate pick up in my chest. Riding? Did she seriously want me to get on that big ass horse? I looked over at him, and he gave me a harmless look. Hmm I guess it'll be a good excuse to be close to Miley. Wait what? Stop that you can't like her. You can't can't CAN'T! I hadn't noticed that Miley had returned with a pair of boots that looked similar to hers.
"Here Lil, put these on," she said, handing them to me. I stared at her for a minute, then the horse, and then the boots. She saw my worried look and reassured me, "Don't worry, I won't let you get hurt. We'll ride Blue Jeans together, and then maybe if you get comfortable with him, one day you'll ride him and I'll ride my dad's horse."
It's like she put a spell on me and I magically molded to her will. "Okay," I said, putting my flip flops on her porch and slipping the boots over my pants legs.
Nervously, I made my way over to the horse with Miley. She took my hand and led me over to the small step ladder placed beside the giant animal. My hands were shaking from nerves. "Trust me," she said looking in my eyes. Those two words scared me deeply and I almost turned and ran, but the look in Miley's eyes stopped me and I simply nodded and continued to climb the steps.
She instructed me to swing one leg over and as I did, I felt her hand dangerously close to my butt as she pushed me up the rest of the way. She told me to scoot back so she could get on in front of me. I did and she easily pulled herself up and picked up the reins. I scooted closer to her, leaving very minimal space between us. Miley took my hands and wrapped them around her waist and told me to hold on tight. Don't worry I plan to, for more reasons than one. I gotta quit having these thoughts about her, she's the first friend I've had in almost a year.
Miley kicked her heel into the horse and he began to walk as she guided him to a small path that led through the trees behind her house. Once I had gotten comfortable at the speed he was going, she had him go a little faster so he was trotting. I don't know why I had been so scared about this, I mean I used to skateboard and surf back home.
Miley, who was worried with my silence, repeated her previous phrase, "Penny for your thoughts, Lil."
I laughed but this time shared with her what was really on my mind. She was intrigued to know that I surfed and stated that it was something that she had always wanted to do. We rode Blue Jeans for about another ten minutes before she pulled back on his reins, signaling him to stop. I took in our surroundings. We were surrounded by trees, and wild flowers, and in front of us was another creek that appeared to be somewhat deeper than the one behind my house and the water was moving as well. It was all absolutely beautiful.
I hadn't realized that I still had my arms wrapped around her waist until she put her hand on mine. I blushed furiously, glad that for the time being, she couldn't see my face. I scooted back on the horse to allow her to jump down and she immediately turned to help me down as well and tied Blue Jeans to one of the trees.
"The waters moving," I stated, feeling a little dumb after it came out of my mouth.
She obviously hadn't thought so when she answered, "Yeah there's a little waterfall right down there. Its about a ten foot drop into a pond." I swallowed nervously as she led me to the waterfall. It was even prettier than the first sights.
"Well come on Lil, lets get in," she said, taking off her boots and her hat, laying them neatly on the ground.
I looked at her as if she was crazy, but she only smirked, "Say what?"
"You heard me, take off those boots and have a little fun," she said, showing her teeth in a wide grin.
For some reason I complied and took my boots off setting them beside hers. She untied a rope that I hadn't noticed before from a nearby tree. It was tied on to a big branch almost at the top of the tree and fell directly above the waterfall.
Seeing the questioning look on my face, she said, almost shyly, "Me and my brother put that up there last summer, we've always kind of been in to something adventurous."
"A-are you sure its s-safe?" I stuttered nervously.
She grabbed my hand in reassurance, "Of course I'm sure, I wouldn't do anything that would get you hurt Lilly."
I nodded and she led me into the creek, a few feet above the water fall. The water around me was knee deep and thankfully not as cold as it looked. She gave my hand a squeeze and I lifted my head to meet her gaze.
"Do you want to go first or do you want me to?" she asked. I nodded for her to go first and she winked and said, "Okay I'll be waiting at the bottom to catch you."
With that being said, she released my hand and ran towards the rope. She jumped while reaching, and I watched as she swung freely and carelessly in the air over the waterfall. Once she was close to the drop, she released the rope, falling into the water. I held my breath nervously waiting for her to resurface and she did within a matter of seconds. She ushered me to join her, and I decided that it was now or never, and repeated her actions.
As I was swinging in midair, I felt free and calm; like all the weight of my depression and emptiness had lifted and gone, although truthfully, hanging out with Miley these past two days had already helped both of those feelings. Around Miley I was the old Lilly again, and I liked it. I release the rope and my body was submerged into a slightly chilly pool of water. I emerged from under the water to see that Miley was indeed less than a foot away from me.
She smiled at me and I noticed that her eyes had darkened considerably. Did the water do that to them or was it something else? As I contemplated that thought, I noticed that we were ever-so-slowly getting closer but I'm not sure which one of us was moving, or maybe both. I opened my mouth to say something, but right at that moment, a rustling in the direction of Blue Jeans, broke our stare from one another. She grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side of the pond with her. We picked up our belongings and carried them with us and when we got back to the horse, he seemed fine and we couldn't find anything that could have made the noise. We both slipped back on our boots and Miley picked up the cowboy hat, dusting it off.
Instead of putting it on, I was surprised when she walked over and placed it on my head. "Looks better on you," she said smiling, and my breathing hitched, catching in the back of my throat. She seemed to like the effect she had just had on me and smirked. And it was there in that moment, that I realized that I really liked Miley, and if I'm not careful, I would fall for the hot southern girl.
After a short silence, she helped me onto Blue Jeans once more and I noticed how her wet clothes clung to her incredibly sexy body. The ride back to Miley's was pure torture for me, I could feel her toned stomach muscles perfectly underneath the soaking wet skin tight material. I was thankful when I saw Miley's house come in to view. I quickly hopped off the horse, not waiting for her help. I walked with her to put the horse in it's stable and then trailed her to her front porch, she seemed to be contemplating something in her mind.
I was fixing to take off the boots and replace them with my flip flops when she said, "Spend the night with me?"
I wasn't sure that I heard her correctly at first and when I looked at her, she even seemed unsure of the question she had just asked. I thought for a second longer before agreeing and telling her I needed to run home and grab some pajamas and clothes for tomorrow and let my mom know. She nodded in agreement and waited patiently on her porch for me to return. When I did, she led me inside to her room upstairs. She told me I could take a shower in her bathroom while she took one across the hall. I showered and dressed for bed and met her in her room.
The rest of the day seemed to pass uneventful. Her dad cooked us a steak dinner and we sat in her room passing time, talking about everything and yet nothing at all. We sat in her room as I stared at her grand piano, it was beautiful, and I bet that her playing it was even more beautiful. She followed my gaze and sat down in front of it.
"I've had this melody stuck in my head for awhile now, but I can't seem to find the words to go with it. I'm missing my muse," she said, beginning to play a beautiful rhythm while humming along to it.
From what I could tell, her voice was beautiful just like everything else about her. All too soon, she stopped playing and we agreed on a movie and crawled under her covers. Laying very close together, we soon drifted off to sleep.
I looked around and noticed the familiar hallways, I was in my old high school again. More specifically, I was standing next to the downstairs girls' bathroom that not a lot of people went to. I knew in the back of my mind that I shouldn't enter, but an unstoppable force drove me forward anyways. The minute I was in the door, I felt hands on me. I was terrified beyond the point of yelling for help. I was crying heavily by now, wishing for this all to be over, as the assault continued. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I could hear Miley calling my name, but I couldn't see her. I wanted nothing more than to run in to her arms and never leave them...
I woke with a start to hear Miley calling my name, with her hand on my shoulder, "Lilly, are you okay?"
I realized that I had had another nightmare. I also realized that I really was crying. I looked over at Miley to see compassion and worry in her eyes. She looked like she was deciding whether to ask for an explanation or just hold me. I knew, looking in her eyes, that I had to tell her at least most of the truth. I knew that I could tell her the truth.
My breathing slowed down some as Miley continued to rub my back with one hand and hold my hand with the other. "It's okay Lilly, it was just a dream, you can tell me if you want," she said in a calming voice.
I looked into her blue-gray eyes again and almost melted. What is this feeling? Its like I can't breathe whenever she's around. I nodded, "I want to."
She nodded for me to continue. Taking a deep breath I started, "At my old school, something happened to me. Something that almost controlled my life. Miley, I haven't talked to anyone other than my mom and my therapist about it, I haven't trusted anyone until I met you..."
I stopped when she laced our fingers together. I looked at our joined hands, noticing how well my hand fit in hers, then looked up to see her smiling at me. This simple act showed me that she really did care and it gave me the courage to finish. "It will have happened a year ago in October so I was a junior then. I had stayed after school that day and was on my way to the bathroom. I decided to go to the one downstairs because it was closer. What I hadn't noticed is that I was being followed," I stopped talking for a moment and looked down at my lap.
Miley put her other hand under my chin and brought it back up to look at her, "Its okay Lilly, you can tell me."
I nodded and started again. "When I came out of the stall, I looked up to see three big guys standing there. They were all on the football team. I moved to get around them but one of them grabbed me and put a hand over my mouth." By now I was crying heavily again, but I continued anyway, "They, um, they t-t-touched me; two of them did, while the other one laughed and told them what to do."
"Oh my god, Lilly that's terrible!" Miley said, engulfing me in a warm embrace. I leaned into her touch and buried my face in her neck. "No one should ever have to go through that, especially not you. What happened then?"
I straightened up a little and said, "Some girl walked in and saw them and screamed for help. I blacked out and the next thing I remembered was waking up to my mom standing over top of me. The guys were put in jail with sexual assault and harrassment charges and I was taken out of school."
"Well that's good that they got locked up and I think that explains your trust issues," she said, still holding me.
"Miley that's not the worst part," I mumbled into her shoulder.
"What could possibly be worse Lilly?" She asked, the worry evident in her eyes.
"After what happened, I went on home-bound. I started getting really depressed, and shutting myself off from everyone, including my best friend. Any little noise scared me, and I didn't want to be touched at all by anyone. My depression was getting worse everyday and about three months after the incident, I decided I couldn't take it anymore..."
"Lilly no?" she said, tears in her eyes now as well, and I just nodded.
"I tried to kill myself. I took about 10 Xanax and drank almost a whole fifth of whiskey. I passed out and when I woke up, I was in the hospital. The doctors said I was truly lucky to be alive. After that my mom put me in a 'crazy' hospital and when I was released from there, I had to go to therapy sessions once a week. And that's why we moved down here Miley, that's why my mom and I needed a clean start," I finished.
"Well I'm glad you did Lil. And I'm glad you told me," she said honestly, hugging me closer to her.
I got lost in the feeling of her arms around me. I don't know how long we stayed like that but eventually I started to get sleepy and so did Miley. She suggested that we go back to sleep and pulled us down on to the bed together, where I fell asleep on her shoulder.
AN: Well there it is! The whole horseback riding thing is so cute and i had to throw in the whole cowboy hat thing! I know you're probably mad that they didn't kiss yet, but don't worry, the next chapter won't dissapoint. So now you know what happened to Lilly to make her so distrusting. And the song in this is "All The Same" by Sick Puppies. Review please!
