I'm glad some of you guys are still reading, and thanks so much for the reviews. You all are the best. Hope this (repost) is up to expectations! More will come soon :)


Lilly's fingers drummed impatiently on the steering wheel as she stared up at the stop light, daring it to change to green. She had gotten about halfway to the beach that morning when she realized that she was scheduled to work that day, and was supposed to be at With A Cherry On Top by noon. She checked the digital clock on the dashboard and groaned. 11:56. At this rate, she'd never get to work on time.

Just as Lilly looked up from the clock, the light flashed a bright green, and she stepped hard on the gas, going just a tad over the legal speed limit as she drove down the road, pulling into the small staff parking lot out back as the clock blinked 11:59. She ran by Dan, her manager, as she sprinted through the door marked 'Employees Only.'

"You're late, Lilly!"

"Not yet, Dan!" She laughed, pointing up at the clock up on the wall, the second hand ticking mere inches away from 12. In one quick swoop of her hand, she swiped her employee card, the time stamped reading exactly 12 o'clock, and grabbed a spare staff shirt from the basket. Pulling it over her head, Lilly pushed through the second set of doors and grinned at Grace, who was already bent over the oversized freezer, struggling to carve out a large scoop of chocolate. Grace laughed, straightening up for a minute and rolling her eyes at the blonde. "Late again?"

"Nope!" Lilly replied enthusiastically, making her way around the freezer and over to her window, sliding the screen open. "Right on time!" She looked out, a friendly smile gracing her face. "I can help whoever's next!"

xxx

Lilly sighed, dropping the ice cream scoop into the container of water and rubbing her upper arm. She looked up at the clock, watching the seconds tick away until it hit three o'clock. "Going on my break now!" She turned, waving at Grace over her shoulder before walking out and into the staff lounge. Lilly let herself collapse on the couch, grabbing a water bottle from the cooler and pulling her cell phone out of her pocket. She looked at it, took a long swig form the Poland Springs, then looked back down at her phone. She couldn't explain why, but part of her was dying to call him back. Phone Guy. Joe.

As usual, her stomach filled with butterflies at the mere thought of the boy on the other end of the phone line. Though she had heard him actually speak, and gotten an idea of who he was, he only had her lame outgoing messages to rely on. It was the idea that he might actually be interested in what Lilly was actually like that was pushing her to give him a call back. Her one worry was that he might actually pick up. She had no idea what she would do if she was to hold a conversation with him. She got nervous enough just thinking about leaving him a message; she couldn't even imagine what she'd be like physically speaking to him, one-on-one, instead of one-on-answering machine.

As she contemplated her options, the staff lounge door swung open and Lilly looked up to see Grace walk in, rubbing her forehead. "It's crazy out there…" The redhead drifted off, giving Lilly a weird look. "What's with the phone?"

Lilly gave Grace a lopsided smile, and lifted the cellphone up with her right hand. "Joe."

"Who?" Grace raised an eyebrow, sliding onto the couch next to Lilly, and crossed her arms. "Who is this Joe person, and why have I not heard about him?"

Lilly giggled, flushing. "I forgot to tell you about him?"

Grace nodded.

"Right… Well, this guy called my phone, wrong number and all, and long story short, he's called a few times and left a few messages, but not for the guy he meant to call, but for me. I don't know, Miley and I think he sounds pretty hot. Anyways, yeah, and his name's Joe." Lilly shrugged. "That's about it."

"Girl!"Grace exclaimed, lightly pushing on Lilly's shoulder. "Don't leave me in the dark! Come on, details!"

"You might just be better off hearing it yourself." Lilly opened the phone, dialed into her voicemail, and held it up to Grace's ear, holding in laughter at her reactions to the messages left by Joe.

Finally Grace shut the phone and turned to look at Lilly, amusement apparent in her eyes. "You have that boy wrapped around your finger. And you've never called him, he's only called you?" Lilly nodded, a tint of pink appearing in her cheeks. "Wow. I would kill for this. You really need to call him."

"Grace!" Lilly exclaimed, shaking her head in determination. "No way! You've seen how I am around good looking guys! So not gonna happen. If he picked up, I would make a complete fool out of myself!"

Grace laughed, rolling her eyes. She was three years older than Lilly, and Lilly, as well as Miley, who also worked with the two, always seemed to come to her with her boy dilemmas. Usually Lilly was easy to assist, but she seemed pretty set in her decision, at this point. "Lilly, come on! He's taking the time to call you! At the very least, you can return the favor!"

Lilly shrugged again, pulling her feet up onto the couch and wrapping her arms around her legs. "I don't know…"

"Lilly," Grace interrupted firmly. "You're gonna call him. Okay?"

Lilly sighed, looked at the phone that Grace was holding out to her. She reached out and took it from the redhead, slowly opening it and found his number. She looked up once more at Grace, giving her an unsure smile, and Grace nodded encouragingly. She pressed send, and listened anxiously as his ringback tone played. She couldn't quite place what song it was, but it definitely sounded familiar. Suddenly, his outgoing message took over, and Lilly let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she wouldn't need to hold a conversation.

"Yo yo YO! You've reached JOE! Just so you KNOW! I'm so here, SO! … Uhm, leave a message. Yeah, it doesn't rhyme… but you should still do it. Laterz, homies! … Wait… where's the poun-"

Lilly giggled, and began talking once the beep sounded. She started out slow, but picked up as the message continued. Grace laughed, rolling her eyes at Lilly's sudden change of character. As Lilly continued to talk, Grace pulled out her own phone unnoticed and sent a quick text message.

hey miley – got lilly to call him, shes leaving the msg right now. he sounds so cute!

xxx

"Joe! Stop fooling around, we have to get this done!"

Joe groaned, running his fingers roughly through his hair. "Guys, c'mon! We've been at this for at least 3 hours!"

Nick gave him a glare, which quickly dissolved into laughter when he caught sight of the comical pout that had taken up residence on Joe's face. "Are you kidding? What's your rush?"

"You know he just wants to go check his phone, see if he missed a call from Lilly." Kevin laughed, raising an eyebrow at the second oldest Lucas.

Joe crossed his arms over his chest, staring down at the ground. He mumbled something, but the two boys couldn't understand what he said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Nick said, trying to contain more laughter. "I didn't quite catch that."

"I said," Joe replied, looked up and glaring at his younger brother. "So what if I do?"

Kevin rolled his eyes. "Fine. One more run-through, and then you're free to go obsess as much as you'd like." Joe smiled brightly and nodded, anxious to finish in the studio so that he could get to his phone as soon as possible.

The boys finished their last song and Joe took off, the studio door left swinging long after he had vacated the room.

He quickly found his jacket on a chair in the lobby and dug into the pockets, pulling out his iPhone after a few moments of frantic searching. He touched the screen a few times before his eyes widened, and he grinned excitedly. She called. She actually called. Joe took a deep breath, trying to tone down how excited he was truly feeling. He quickly dialed into his voicemail, and leaned back on the couch, the sound of her voice filling his head.

"Uhm, hey… It's Lilly… I just figured I'd call you back. Cause you called me. So, uhm, I'm Lilly, which you know… I'm 16. I don't know… I'm not that interesting. Just your normal, everyday teenage girl. And yeah. So, gotta admit, if your middle name was Dangah, that would probably be the coolest thing ever. But you seem pretty cool anyways, so yeah… It's okay that it's not. So, uhm… what's up? I'm on break at work. I'm an ice cream scooper. It's… fun. My friends work here too, so yeah. It's fun. And I got unlimited texting! Wow, sorry, random. And, uhm… So, weird thing happened to me yesterday. I was driving, and I hit a rhino… A rhino! Okay, not really. A Webkin rhino came flying through the air and hit my windshield. Weird, huh? The little kid who accidentally threw it was cute though. But yeah. My weird fact for the day. Not that that kind of thing happens to me everyday… I mean, I guess sometimes. Life is kinda crazy. Uhm. Yeah. Okay, just realized how much I was rambling on. SO… I'm gonna go now. Uhm, I'll talk to you later? I guess…"

Joe grinned, pulling phone away from his ear and turning it off. Kevin and Nick walked in just as he was putting it away, and Kevin laughed. "I take it she called?"

Joe looked up, nodding excitedly. "Oh yeah. She sounds…" He sighed, leaning back and giving them a lazy smile. "She sounds so awesome. I wish I knew her in real…" He sat up suddenly, his eyes widening.

"Why so excited?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

"I did meet her!" Joe jumped to his feet, bouncing a bit on the tips of his toes. "I met her!"

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked, looking over at Nick. The youngest member of the band shrugged, and they both looked towards Joe, was now pacing and muttering incomprehensible words.

Joe looked up. "I did! I can't believe I didn't know it was her! She told me her name and everything!"

"Seriously, dude! What are you talking about?" Kevin reached out and grabbed his younger brother's shoulder, bringing him to a standstill.

"She was driving by, and Frankie was playing with his Webkinz. He wanted to prove to me that rhino's really do fly, but when he 'made it fly', it went out into the road and hit her windshield. We talked for a little bit, and she told me her name, but I didn't quite place it. How did I not place it?!" Nick shrugged, but before he could answer, Joe continued. "I mean, she was right there! And now I'll probably never see her again." He groaned, falling back down onto the couch.

"Pretty?" Nick asked, and Joe looked up at him, smiling softly.

"Like you wouldn't believe." He rested his elbows on his knees, his hands covering his face for a few seconds before pulling them back to run roughly through his dark locks. "She was so close…" He sighed, looking dejectedly down at the ground. "It's like…" He looked up, glancing at his brothers. "So close, yet way too far."