A/N 1: AlvinFan here, once again! I always say this with like, every story I write, but sorry for the long wait. Stuff goes on, Holidays, etc. But here we are, with our next update. Hope you enjoy it, and thanks for all the great reviews on the last chapter. Enjoy!

A/N 2: Yeah ok, 'The Idiot' here, is agreeing and saying kinda the same thing, Holidays! I think that was the biggest hold up right there. *cough* alvinfan's fault *cough*. Nah jk, now I won't go pointing fingers ^ lol. But anyway, over 3 weeks of an update wait, seriously won't happen again, sorry 'bout that. Yes thanks for the reviews, blah blah, last chapter, oh and enjoy!

Realness I'm Faking

"Chapter 6"

Miley's POV—

I slowly rounded the corner in the school hallway near my locker. For the past couple of days, I have been avoiding Lilly at any cost. It didn't seem like she minded that much either… Which sucks. I can't believe I was dumb enough to spill my guts out to her like that. But hey, she caught me off guard anyways.

Jake walked up to his locker and I was relieved to see that Lilly wasn't with him. Quickly, I walked over to him. "Hey, Jake," I greeted.

"Hey, Miley," He smiled. "How come you and Lilly haven't been talking? I thought you two were getting along now." Jake sounded so concerned, and that's one thing I loved about him.

"Well…" I started, scratching the back of my neck. "I, um, I kind of told her that I have a crush on her…"

His eyes widened, "What?? Are you serious?"

"Wait… She hasn't told you?" I was beyond confused. I totally thought she would have told him by now.

"No. I figured something was off with her, but I wasn't really sure. How did that happen anyways?" We both leaned up against our lockers.

"I was sitting on my back porch playing a song I wrote…" I stuck my hands into my pockets, looking down at the ground. "I didn't see her walk in, but she heard it and absolutely loved it. Then, when I finished it, she asked what it was about and… I told her it was about her. I didn't know what else to do."

Jake nodded understandingly, "I see…" Glancing at me, he smiled, "You know, I've never seen you open up to someone so much in a long time. Maybe this is a good thing."

I sadly nodded my head, "If it's so good, then why isn't she talking to me?"

"Miley, she's probably just shocked. Look, I'll talk to her, okay? If you want me to of course."

"Sure, I mean I don't know how else to find out if she hates me or not," I sadly state.

"Lilly doesn't hate you. I'll talk to her and we'll all sort this out, alright?" He smiled.

"Thanks, Jake," I smiled. With a sigh, I turn to open my locker. "I really, really like her. But she has a boyfriend and apparently they have slept together…"

"They've been dating before we even knew her. It shouldn't matter if they've slept together or not. Besides, you and I have slept together."

Ugh, did he have to bring that up? "Jake, I thought I told you to never bring that up. We were both upset and vulnerable; it just happened."

"I know, I know. All I'm saying is that you shouldn't be upset about it." A moment of silence fell between us as we gathered up our books for our next class. Then, from the corner of my eye, I saw him smirk.

"What are you smirking about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing… It's just, that night wasn't completely horrible was it?" He smiled again.

I smacked him upside the head, laughing. "Oh, of course not, Jakey. It was the night I absolutely knew I was a lesbian. So, I guess I should thank you."

Jake's face fell and I couldn't help but laugh harder at that. "Gee thanks, Miley. I really feel like a man now."

"No problem." Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled him into a hug. Jake was my best friend, and there wasn't a day where I wasn't thankful for having him in my life. If I were straight, I would totally date him. "Thanks, Jake…" I softly whisper to him.

"Anytime. I'm always here when you need me." I keep smiling; I don't think I've smiled this much in like… over a year.

Suddenly, the bell rings to get to class. Shoving our books into our bags, we both rush off towards class- laughing.

Lilly's POV—

I've been sitting in the empty classroom for the past thirty-five minutes thinking. I still couldn't get over the fact that Miley had a crush on me. I don't have any idea what to do about it. A girl has never had a crush on me. At least to my knowledge they haven't. I know I'm probably hurting her feelings by not talking to her, but what else am I supposed to do?

I hear the bell ring and sigh. Jake and Miley will probably be in here soon. Suddenly, I see Jake rushing in the classroom with a huge smile on his face, and Miley right behind him laughing. "I beat you, Stewart!" He roared in victory.

"You cheated!" Miley smiled. "But, I guess I'll let it slide." She turns and we make eye contact. Her smile falls.

Jake sits down in front of me. "So…" He fiddles with his notebook. "Haven't seen much of you lately."

"Sorry…" I reply sheepishly. "I've just been thinking is all."

I hear Miley sigh while she takes a seat next to me. Could this be any more awkward? Looking back at Jake, I see that he's looking at me.

"We need to talk later, okay?" He looks at me seriously.

"Um… Okay?" Why do I have a feeling it's going to be about Miley?

------

A few more classes went by and soon it was time for our lunch break. I wasn't with Miley right now, so I had no idea where to sit. But as I looked around the area I saw Jake giving me a small wave to sit at his table. Although sitting next to him was Miley, bowing her head and looking in another direction. I hesitated for a few seconds, then just figured I would sit on the bench across from them. So I walked toward the table.

"Hey Lilly, so-" Miley suddenly looked his way and glared. "Oh uh, one second," Jake said a bit nervously at Miley's sudden look. Then he turned around to his backpack, did something real quick and then turned back around. "Alright well…" Suddenly Miley's phone rang. "Oh Miles, do you have to go?" He said in an odd tone of voice.

"Uh yeah, it looks like it's my Dad, but I'll be back in a few. See you later." Miley put her phone to her ear and walked away to some hallway.

Now that was even odder. Her tone of voice sounded real casual. But I decided to shrug it off. At least she was gone for now and leaving me with Jake who might possibly start up a conversation about her.

"So Lilly, I wanted too talk to you about Miley." He said in a small voice. Yup, I was sure right. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, what about?"

"Well uh, believe it or not, she has feelings for when it comes down to love. She can get sensitive about-"

"She told you?"

"I'm, I-I am her best friend after all, so what would you expect?"

I leaned on my arm and sighed, "I don't know, I guess I should have seen it coming. It's not a big deal really. Sorry, you just caught me off guard. Anyway, what'd you want to say about her?"

"Well she's just having a hard time waiting. Mostly anticipation really; listen I know she's not showing it, but Miley's really anxious to know what your thoughts were after that song she wrote. I mean you just can't take this much time to think about something that big. Miley spilled practically everything to you that night. Are you gonna say anything anytime soon?"

"Look, I'm taking my time…"

"But it's time that you're wasting." Jake smirked as he thought of his clever comment. "Face it Lilly, you and I both know you've already thought things through, but you just don't know what to say or what to do about it."

I looked down at the table for a second; Jake was sure smarter than I thought. He was right about a few things too; I had thought about it and I don't know what to say. But that's only because I'm not sure of my feelings yet, so I'm pretty sure he's not thinking the same thing.

"I… I just don't know what to say to her," I reply honestly. "I'm just really confused…' I say as I lay my head into my folded arms on the lunch table.

"About what?" Jake asks suspiciously.

I lift my head up to look at him. "Can we talk in the hallway?" I ask, picking up my sandwich.

"Yea, sure." Jake picks up his lunch as well and follows me into the hallway. I'm glad to see that it's secluded because I think I would die if anyone heard me say what I was about to tell Jake. "So," He starts. "What's up?"

I look into his eyes and sigh. I didn't even know what the hell I was doing right now. "Well, um… The thing is, I-I'm…" I can't finish. Slowly, I slide to the floor. I suddenly lost my appetite.

Jake sits down next to me, "You can tell me…" He then takes my hand in his, giving me a squeeze of encouragement.

I look down, away from his eyes. "I've never had to deal with this before… I'm confused. Honestly," I say, laughing dryly, "I don't exactly know how I feel. Like, I don't know if I like her back or not." At this, I look at him, to see if he understands. He smiles, so I continue. "Every time I'm around her, I get this weird feeling in my stomach. I don't know what it means, and it scares me… If I say anything to her, then her hopes will get up. And if I decide that I don't feel that way, then I'll hurt her. That's something I don't want to end up doing, Jake. So… that's why I haven't talked to her yet. I just don't know how to explain things to her. This is all new to me. She's a great friend to have… That much I know. But more than friends? I have no idea…"

There's silence for a few seconds before Jake speaks. "I guess I understand where you're coming from. But, Miley hasn't ever really liked anyone this much before… So it's new to her as well. She's scared; scared that her heart will be broken, and that she'll lose you as a friend. She just needs to know if things are going to be okay or not. I don't think it'll be a good idea to wait too long to talk to her, Lilly."

Great. More guilt to carry around with me. "Fine," I sigh. "Just… Just give me till the end of the day at least, please?" I beg, looking him in the eye.

"As long as you talk to her, that's all that matters to me." He then takes a bite of his lunch and gets up; extending his hand to help me up too. "Come on, let's go back in there to eat."

I took his hand, got up, and followed him back into the cafeteria. When we got back, Miley was sitting back at the table; still looking down. I still had no freakin' idea what to say to her… It'd be easier if she would say something first.

As I sat down in my same position, across from her, she looked up at me and took a deep breath. "Hey Lilly, c-can we talk later? Like after school I mean?" She asked nervously looking deep into my eyes.

"Yeah sure, I'd like that." I smiled. Wow that was a miracle. She basically read my mind, than I didn't know where to begin. Hopefully I can figure out what to say when we talk later. As we walked to class, once lunch was over, Jake just gave me small thumbs up.

------

By the time school was over I saw Miley waiting at the front doors of the school. Damn, that girl was fast. I walked up to her and prepared myself for what was coming next. Although as I was walking over to her, I quickly side glanced at everyone around me, Jake was nowhere in sight. I could tell now that maybe he really does know what he's doing.

"So Lilly, wanna take a little stroll alongside the stretch of fence on the dirt road just outside of town? It's just a few blocks away from here. It's got a really pretty view of stretches of fields and lots of horses and some cows too."

We walked out of the school. I thought about this rather negatively for a moment. I had gone on really nice strolls along the beaches in Malibu. Only now to be resorted to strolls down a dirt road looking at a field. "Alright let's check it out." It wasn't my intention, but I agreed, happily anyway.

We walked the few blocks in silence, then we reached our destination. Miley was right, it was a long stretch of road, with about a five foot tall, wire fence running along side it. We started walking and I looked over to the fields. I didn't think she would be, but she was right about that too. "Whoa Miley you were right, this is a pretty view." I said and had barely noticed my pace slowing to take in everything around me.

"I know, thanks. Yeah nobody realizes how fields of grass and wheat, rolling into stretches of hills can be pretty. They never believe how pretty it is until they actually see it." I broke my gaze from some horses and turned to look at Miley, she was already looking at me and then gave me a small smile, then continued talking, "I love taking Stella for a ride down here and then we just stroll alongside and look as it goes on for miles and the hills get bigger. It's even nicer in the evening, just as the sun is setting. Then I wait all little while longer until it gets dark, because that's when the stars appear and they are so pretty out here."

"Oh yeah I never thought of that, I bet they would be really nice. Oh, didn't you want to talk about something else?"

I saw her look down and blush; she knew what point I was getting into. "Well yeah, I-I did. I mean I still do, but I wasn't sure how to come right out and say it…" We walked along the road for another minute and then Miley stopped and turned to face me, "I've thought about what to say though and Lilly, it's just that I was afraid. I was afraid that I scared you off by telling you everything I felt. I mean I really spilled everything out that night. Then when you said you needed time to think and walked away just like that, I was afraid I really did make a huge mistake. Especially when you never came up to me and asked me why I wasn't talking to you, but now I decided it's time to finally ask…Do you know how you feel yet?"

I did the same thing she did, I took a moment to look out at the field and then turned to face her and replied, "Well first thing is that I wasn't scared, I really did need time to think and I'm sorry if I hurt you by avoiding you as well. I mean you did deserve to know something before now. It's just that I've never dealt with something like this before, it's just all new to me. And honestly, well I can't believe I'm gonna tell you this, but you deserve it since you've told me pretty much everything there is to know about you. Honestly, I just…well I just get this weird feeling in my stomach when…well, when I'm around you. So I guess that makes me more confused. I'm really sorry you have to hear this, but that weird feeling is making me scared and I guess I just need…well, more time to think. I'm really sorry Miley, but I just-"

"Hey it's ok, I get that part about the weird feeling and you know what?" She said to me, smiling a little? "I can understand now that you'd need a little bit more time to think, so it's ok with me Lilly. Just take a bit more time." Miley said with real meaning. No joke or tears, she really did understand.

"Thanks Miles. I…think you're the greatest friend ever." I said as I stepped closer to her and gave her a hug. I think she seemed surprised at first because she didn't put her arms around me at all. After a few seconds though, she realized what I was doing and quickly wrapped her arms around me.

"You're welcome Lil, anytime." She said, into the warm embrace. This was weird, but I found it oddly comforting and…safe. In Miley's arms, I felt safe.

It could have been about a minute we were hugging. I didn't know. But I decided to get my head and thoughts out of the clouds quickly. Regretfully, I pulled away slowly. "Well sorry Miles, but I, I gotta get home and do some homework, I got a lot of it today. Anyway, thanks a lot for taking me over here though, I really like this place and the view. I think I'll come over here at sunset sometime like you said." I smiled.

"Sure no problem. So I'll see ya 'round?" I've always thought accents were cool, but I think that Miley's was the only one I could call cute.

"Yeah see you later." I said with a small wave and then walked toward my house. It seemed that Miley was going to linger there for a little while longer.

Later that night I got a phone call I wasn't expecting. But then again I should have realized I would be getting it sooner or later. And now regretting and feeling more guilty for avoiding Oliver for a long time now. It sat on my desk and rang a few more times. One more ring and then I would miss it. I quickly picked it up and flipped it open.

"Hey," I said in a small voice.

"Wow Lil, it's so great to hear your voice again." Oliver said with relief. I thought it would be nice to hear him again too, but now…now it was just Oliver. It just seemed like listening to my friend Oliver. "It's been awhile you know? So what's been keeping you? What's been going on?"

"Yeah first, it's uh…well nice to hear you again too." I felt as though I forced those words out. "And uh, just the same old stuff has been going on, just school and hanging with a few friends that I told you about. Oh and my Mom's job is going well too." I simply told him. These were facts really. I just left a few out. And the hesitant tone in my voice might have given that away.

"Well that sounds great, sounds like everything's going well. But is that all? You sound like there's something else on your mind." Shit, he could tell there was more.

"I guess that's how things are going as far as everything around me. But as for me, yeah I guess you could say something's on my mind," I sighed deeply and then continued. "I kinda think that this long distance thing isn't working for me Oliver." It was painful, but I knew it had to be said sometime.

"W-What, what do you mean? I thought things were just fine. Lilly what's wrong?"

"I'm just, I'm just confused. I sorta met someone ok? And now I'm just thinking about this long distance thing we've got going and I don't think-"

"Wait, wait back up, you met someone? What do you mean, like as in you like him?"

"Oliver it's like I said, I'm just confused about this. I just need to think it out. Thanks for calling me though. I appreciate it and I'll call you later. Bye."

I flipped my phone shut, too abrupt, but I didn't want the conversation like that to last too much longer. I had told Miley I needed a little more time to think things through because I was confused about the weird feelings I get around her. Now I just told Oliver I was confused and I needed to think more. But now everything was even less clear and I had no idea what to think about.

A/N (again lol): AlvinFan-- Poor Lilly. Well, hopefully you enjoyed it, cos we sure enjoyed writing it. Leave your thoughts if you wish to :)

a/n 2: (the idiot) yeah leave your thoughts if you wish to, from Alvinfans cheesy a/n's. Haha, just joking. Yes, reviews make all authors happy, so go ahead and write whatever you think about it…please… :p )