"I wish I could go back, Lilly," Oliver said, his deep, brown eyes pleading forgiveness as he focused intently on the petite blonde in front of him. "Because you and Miley were the best friends I ever had."
Tears fell freely down Lilly's pale face and she smiled, bringing a shaky hand up to her cheek to wipe away the smeared mascara. "Thank you," she said softly, pulling her jacket tightly around her body.
He silently begged her forgiveness once more before sighing deeply and turning around, trudging back toward his house.
"Oliver?" Lilly said, so quietly that when Oliver heard her say it, he thought it was a figment of his imagination.
He turned around nonetheless, closing his eyes and bracing himself for whatever insult or comeback she was planning on throwing his way. "Yeah?" he breathed quietly.
He heard her take a long, deep breath. "I forgive you," she said softly.
His eyes popped open. "Wh-What?" he stammered, taking a step closer to the porch on which Lilly stood.
Lilly smiled slightly through her tears, pushing her matted blonde hair away from her face. "I forgive you," she repeated, a little louder.
Oliver stared at her for a moment, as if he was waiting for her to laugh and yell "I'm just kidding, ya donut!" but she never did. She just stood on her front porch, hugging her light jacket tightly to her body, smiling, even though tears were rolling down her cheeks.
He shook his head. "Are you sure?"
She laughed, moving down the steps onto her lawn. She moved close to him and brushed the shaggy, brown hair out of his eyes. "Positive."
He grinned triumphantly, pumping a fist into the air and screaming a loud 'whoop!' Lilly laughed again and wiped her cheeks hastily.
Oliver opened his arms wide and she flung herself into them, burying her head in his shoulder. A victorious smile on his face, he placed one hand on the small of her back and tangled the other in her golden hair.
"I've missed you, so much, Lils," he murmured quietly into her ear.
She closed her eyes, pulling him closer to her. "I've missed you, too, Ollie."
And when she used the nickname he hated so much, he loved it, just because the words were coming out of her mouth.
She pulled away from him, suddenly, as a grin swept across her face. "Wait here!" she squealed, sprinting back into her house. Oliver knitted his eyebrows, but stood still, nonetheless, until Lilly reemerged from her house, her hands full with a tray and two overflowing glasses.
"What are you doing?" Oliver asked, rushing over to her and saving a glass of, what he now saw was milk, just before she dropped it.
"Right before you came over," she said nonchalantly, setting the tray and glass on the porch before sitting on the stair, "I took these out of the oven." She gestured at the tray sitting next to her.
He sat down on the other side of the tray and looked at it. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Are these…" he said, grinning as he gently lifted one from the tray.
"Yup," Lilly replied, an equally large grin on her face, "Chocolate marshmallow brownie batter cookies."
"Also known as: the greatest food ever to touch the earth!"
"And to think," Lilly said, taking a large bite out of a cookie, "We were a mere eight-years-old when we invented them!"
"I haven't had one of these since… since, well… you know. I forgot how amazing they were."
"Oliver Oken," Lilly said in mock horror, placing a hand upon her chest. "Did you apologize to me just for my delicious cookies?"
Oliver laughed. "You know," he said. "Ava baked me like twelve batches of cookies on my birthday."
Lilly took a sip of milk and smiled uncomfortably. "Well, that was nice of her," she murmured.
"Yeah," Oliver sighed, "Except they were peanut butter and I'm-"
"Allergic," Lilly finished, nodding. "It was a nice idea, though."
"Mmhmm," Oliver said, leaning back to rest on his elbows.
"You seem… happy with her."
Oliver laughed. "Nope," he said.
"Oh," Lilly said quietly.
There was a silence. Lilly repositioned herself so that the tray of cookies was no longer in between she and Oliver. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she whispered, "I'm glad we're friends again."
He put an arm around her shoulder, and replied, "I'm glad we are, too."
"You don't understand how lonely I was, Oliver," Lilly said, resting her head on his shoulder as she laced her fingers with his. "I didn't realize how much I depended on you and Miley. And my parents weren't even around to tell me it would be okay. It's just been me for the past two years."
"I'm so sorry, Lilly," Oliver said, rubbing his thumb over her fingers. "If it helps at all, I've been lonely, too."
Lilly nudged him playfully as a smile played on her lips. "Come on," she said. "Mr. Popularity? Lonely?"
"I'm being serious," he said in mock offense. Then, his tone becoming more serious, he said, "It's like the opposite of how you felt. Because people were always around me, but they were never people that I felt knew me or wanted to get to know me."
Lilly sighed. "Let's just not do this whole fight for two years thing again," she said.
"Deal," Oliver said, and then with a smirk, he added, "Next time, we'll fight for three."
Lilly laughed and pulled herself closer to him.
Suddenly, a shriek came from across the lawn. Lilly's head snapped up and she met the eyes of a very angry Ava.
"What is going on here?" Ava squealed, clomping across the Truscott's front lawn. Lilly jerked herself away from Oliver, clasping her hands nervously and staring at the ground.
"Go away, Ava," Oliver sighed, running a hand through his hair and rolling his eyes.
"Don't tell me to 'go away' Oliver," Ava seethed, one hand thrown on her hip, the other pointing a finger at her boyfriend. "I'll do what I want."
"And I'll do what I want," Oliver replied, taking Lilly's hand in his again.
"Oliver," Lilly whispered through clenched teeth. "Don't cause a scene."
"I can't believe you would ditch me at a party for someone as pathetic as Lilly Truscott!" Ava huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. "I mean seriously, Oliver, just because she has no friends doesn't mean you have to pretend like you like her or something. She's such a freak."
Oliver looked at Lilly, whose eyes were still fixated on the ground. A tear escaped one of her eyes as her grip on Oliver's hand got tighter and tighter.
"You have no right to talk like that, Ava," Oliver said, narrowing his eyes. "Just go back to the party and have another beer or something."
"What is your problem?" Ava squealed, her eyes practically burning holes into Lilly's skulls. "First, you hang all over him in the hallways and then, you like molest him during his party. Why are you so obsessed with my boyfriend?"
"Why are you so obsessed with being a bitch?" Oliver yelled, standing up and pulling Lilly with him. "She's never done anything to you, Ava."
Ava stepped back, shocked at Oliver's defense of Lilly.
"All you ever do is put people down and I'm tired of it. It's over, Ava. Go back to the party."
She stared at him for a moment before she turned on her heel and stomped off.
Lilly turned to face Oliver. "You didn't have to do that," she said softly, looking at her feet.
"Yeah, I did," Oliver replied. "Everything I said was the truth."
She looked up, her silver eyes meeting with his chocolate brown ones. She searched his eyes for some sort of hint that he was kidding, that he wouldn't want to talk to her when they went back to school, that this whole night had been a dream, but all she saw in them was sincerity and kindness.
"Thank you," she whispered, placing a hand on her shoulders and kissing him softly on the cheek. "Thank you, very much."