The waves were crashing along the coast, as they always had. They went on like nothing had changed.
Oliver sat watching them. He knew something had changed. He wasn't as naïve as the waves.
He had been mute for hours. It was dark, way past curfew, but at this point he wasn't really caring about anything.
Scott stood a few feet behind him, trying to figure out what do. Miley had left after the sunset. She would have stayed, but he made her go home, he didn't want to worry about her after it got dark.
She had taken the Jeep back to the house. The pickup truck was still sitting on the side of the road. He knew his dad was going to kill him for taking it without permission, but he was too worried about Oliver to care.
Oliver continued to stare out at the dark waves lapping against the shore. He was quietly crying, trying to make the clear picture of her fade in his mind.
Scott took a deep breath before invading his brother's privacy. He sat in the sand next to his brother, staying silent until Oliver acknowledged his existence.
"Do you think she ever loved me?" he said quietly, lowering his eyes.
Scott found this a hard question to answer. He was silent for a few moments.
"I think so. I just don't think she realized it yet. Maybe she would have if…"
"…If I hadn't told her to leave. Oh god Scott, how could I be such a fucking moron?!"
Oliver started to cry again and his brother's arm moved to his shoulder.
"We do stupid things where girls are involved. They twist our minds, killing all proper brain function, and then blame us when we can't think straight. It sucks, but its reality."
"Wow! That really makes me fell better", Oliver said sarcastically as he threw a rock into the already broken waves.
"I don't know what to say O. In a normal situation I would tell you to forget about her…"
Oliver turned his head to glare at his brother.
"…but seeing as this is not a normal situation, I'm going to give you this crappy advice. Try your best to forget about her during the day, because I'll bet you anything that she'll be haunting your dreams."
Oliver waited a few moments before responding.
"I don't think I can forget about her Scott. She's all I've thought about for the last four years. Stuff like that doesn't change in a day."
"I don't know what to say. Say what you want about me, but I've never been in love before. I really can't say that I know what you're going through."
"Do you think I'm really in love her? Because it would be a hell of a lot easier if I wasn't."
"If you can talk yourself into thinking that's true, good luck with that."
"What time is it?"
"I don't know. It's way past curfew though."
"Shit"
"Did I mention we had dad's truck?"
"Double shit"
Scott laughed and stood up. Oliver got up to follow him.
"Do you want to drive or should I?"
"Well, seeing as I'm an emotional wreck who was up at dawn, I will leave that duty to you."
"Good choice"
They drove home quietly, with only the soft sounds of the radio playing. It was a song that was way overplayed, but Oliver was listening to the words for the first time.
It's too late to apologize, it's too late I'd take another chance, take a fall It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
Take a shot for you
And I need you like a heart needs a beat
But it's nothing new
I loved you with a fire red-
Now it's turning blue, and you say...
"Sorry" like the angel heaven let me think was you
But I'm afraid...
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
Was it ever to late to apologize? Was two days too long to take back what he had said;? Those horrible thoughtless things that he told her; he hadn't meant them. He didn't even know he had the ability to let the words escape his lips until he said them to her.
It couldn't be too late. What time was it in Finland anyway? He tried to do the conversion in his head but he couldn't remember how many hours difference there was.
They pulled in to the driveway. Their dad was waiting for them, but with out even a glance in his direction, Scott took all the blame for the break of curfew.
Oliver issued silent thanks before going upstairs to his room.
He turned on his laptop and looked in the corner of the screen to see that it was 12:43. He shook his head and checked to see who was online.
She was.
That nameless girl who haunted his days.
Lilly.
He sent her a simple message.
Turn on your webcam. I need to talk to you.
He turned his on and after a few moments her face flashed on the screen.
Oh god, she was beautiful.
"You wanted to talk?"
"Yeah, it's kind of about what I said the other day."
"Oh, you mean when you were acting like a conniving little bastard?"
"Yeah, that."
"Oliver, you've never been a good actor."
"And you've never been a good aim. It took me twenty minutes to clean brownie remains from my wall."
"I should have been your face."
"Like I said…"
"Oliver, do you actually have something to say, or is this a totally pointless conversation?"
"Oh yeah, that."
"Yeah, that. Whatever that is."
"Lilly I'm sorry for what I said. I didn't mean any of it."
"I guess I already knew that, sort of. Apology accepted."
The conversation died for a moment before Oliver got tired of waiting for her to continue.
"So, when are you coming back?"
"Oliver, I'm in Finland. I start school here tomorrow."
"But I apologized…"
"And I accepted your apology. But Oliver, I can't just get on a plane and fly back there. It's just not an option anymore."
"Oh, okay…"
"I'm sorry Ollie."
"No, I'm okay. It's just…I have school tomorrow too, and it's getting late. Good luck tomorrow."
"I guess I'll talk to you later."
"Yeah, later"
Oliver turned off his computer and lay in his bed. The song was reverberating in his head.
It's too late to apologize, it's too late
I said it's too late to apologize, it's too late
Miley looked up and couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"Can I sit with you?" Scott was standing at her lunch table. She looked over at his usual table where all the jocks were staring and laughing.
"Is this some kind of a dare?" She said looking up at him.
"No, they're just surprised I have girl friends who aren't cheerleaders or prom queens or sluts", he paused for a second while what he had just said ran through his mind again. "I mean, friends who are girls. Girl friends."
She smiled and motioned for him to sit down, "Oliver, Li…well, Oliver and I are the only ones who sit here anyway."
Scott turned his head to scan the cafeteria. He looked for a familiar shaggy brown head that was obviously absent.
"Where is donut boy anyway?"
"I don't know. Usually he stops by Lilly's locker. Maybe old habits die hard. Wait a minute. Is that him?"
Scott turned in his seat to see his brother walking toward them with a girl following him closely.
She had long blonde hair and was wearing Bermuda shorts and a tank top. She looked oddly like…
"Hey guys, this is Kendall. She's in my Spanish class. I thought that she could join us now that we have an empty seat."
Oliver sat down next to Scott and Kendall sat down next to Miley.
"Kendall this is Miley and this is my brother Scott."
The girl looked up from the hair she was twirling around her finger to glance at each of them.
"Whatever…"
Oliver started laughing hysterically, earning odd looks from Miley and Scott and a careless glance from Kendall.
"That was hilarious! Isn't she a riot!" he said, looking at Scott.
"Uh, yeah. Whatever happened to what we were talking about last night?"
"Oh, that. I'm so over her. Smokin' Oken can't settle for foreign girls. There's barely enough to go around Malibu."
Scott and Miley shared a worried glance at each other before continuing their 'conversation'.
"So, Kendall, what do you like to do?" Miley asked, trying to be nice.
"Stuff…"
"See we have so much in common!" Oliver said excitedly.
Scott and Miley shared another worried glance.
"So I'm going to walk Kendall to class", Oliver said as he stood up. "What do have?"
"Mr. French for Government"
"See! It's right by my class. This will be easy."
They left and Miley let out a sigh of relief. She shook her head.
"That's not even in the same wing. He has Mr. Hall for English next period."
"What was with that?"
"I don't know. But did you notice the eerie resemblance to…"
"Lilly, yeah. I don't think he's over her."
"No, you think. Donuts must grow on your family tree."
"Do donuts grow on trees?"
Lilly sat on the couch as Niko took his turn on Guitar Hero. He told her he had never played the game, but that wasn't humanly possible seeing how well he was playing.
Eddie hadn't come over after her first day of school. He had forced Nikko to leave early the day before, bored out of his skull because though she and Niko were kindred spirits, she and the other twin had very little in common.
He finished the song on medium with a perfect score. He threw himself down on the couch with a smirk stretching across his face.
"How was that?"
"Okay, so you can beat me at Guitar Hero, but how about this. I bet you anything I'm a better skateboarder than you are."
"Fine. I bet you dinner, this Friday, that I can beat you."
"Fine, let me just find my board."
"Fine"
"Fine"
She picked it up off the top of one of the boxes. She turned to see him staring at her. She pretended to ignore it but started to blush.
He came out of his trance within a few seconds and motioned toward the door.
"There's a skate park a few blocks away, come on."
(FF-- Lilly wins, but she has a feeling he let her. Now they have a 'non-date' date for Friday night)
K, guys. I know I haven't updated in a while. I know it's a short chapter. I know it's a HORRIBLE ending. But for the love of god it is 2 AM and I have to get up tomorrow and write a 5-7 page expository essay on 'The British Invasion's Influence on Popular Music". Technically, it's on the topic of my choice, but still. On top of researching and writing that I have to do Math, Chemistry (not the good kind), and Java(script, not coffee). So, I don't know when I'll update. The next few chapters may seem like fillers, but I'm trying to follow the original story line until I get to where I can make it my own. Now THAT I have ideas for. So wish me luck on my crap and I'll update ASAP, trust me, it wont be tomorrow, well, today. Whatever February 10, 2008 is to you. Wow, really long AN. Sorry. Well I'm gonna upload this so I can go to bed. Please review.