Everything But You.
Chapter 7; Love has always been the same, you were just looking in the wrong direction and instead were seeing something that looked familiar, but had darker eyes.
"Sorry, Oliver, but Miley's grounded." Oliver pleaded with his eyes.
"Please, Mr. S, I really need to talk to her. It's about this Lilly fight. 5 minutes, I swear." If Oliver said it was about Lilly in the first place, Robby Ray wouldn't have argued, he stepped aside and waved Oliver in. "Thank you, 5 minutes and I'm out." Then Oliver was walking up to her bedroom. He hesitated before he knocked, taking a deep breath and repeating what he was going to say in his head. Then he knocked.
"Yeah?" Came a yell from inside Miley's room
"It's Oliver, Miley. I'd like to talk." The door swung open and Miley was standing there in pajama's looking irritated and shocked that Oliver was standing in her doorway bedroom of all places.
"I'm grounded, and Daddy's letting you talk to me?" Oliver nodded and Miley stood aside. He walked in and stood awkwardly in the center of the room, running a hand through his hair.
What am I doing? Oh yeah, talking. Talking about what? Whoa, breath. It's just Miley.
"I wanted to talk about Lilly." Even Oliver noticed the way Miley stood rigid, eyes shutting. "Look whatever she said, I know she's sorry and if you would just please talk to her, again, I know it would make her happy." Miley looked at him, opened her mouth, shut it, ran a hand through her hair and sat down on her bed.
"I can't, Oliver. If she wants to talk to me, then she will, but what happened between us just can't be easily fixed with a conversation. It can't be forgotten. I made a mistake and she has to come to me to try and fix it. I can't." Oliver looked at her, forehead knitted in confusion.
"Okay, wait. This is bigger then I thought it is. What exactly happened?" Miley just looked down. "C'mon, Miley. Whether it be girl stuff, complicated stuff, maybe it's about me. I can take it." Miley didn't look at him.
"It's way more complicated then that, for me, it's everything and for her, it's probably nothing and that's what the problem is." Oliver tapped his chin.
"Okay, so, whatever it is means a lot to you and Lilly is blowing it off." Miley nodded. "Tell me, Miles! What is it? I'll talk to her." Miley stood up and ran her hand through her hair, again.
"I don't see how you of all people could help this situation. You just don't see Lilly like I do and you need to see her like that, to actually see how she feels about this whole situation." Oliver shook his head, even more confused.
"What do you mean by that. I love Lilly. I'm the person that gets her best." Miley shook her head.
"You don't get it, Oliver." She fell back on her bed.
"Get what?! Miley, what the Hell is going on?" Miley sat up and looked at him.
"Oliver, you're so caught up in trying to improve your life, you forget that what's really important is standing right in front of you and if you get what you think you really need, fame, a music career, then you might lose, Lilly." Oliver balled his fists.
"What the Hell? I know that. I don't have to worry about that, because she'll stand by my side." Miley smiled a crooked smile, shaking her head.
"Then what is it that you love best about her?" He glared.
"I love the way she says I love you, like I'm everything, the way her blonde hair shines in the –" She cut him off.
"Okay, better answer then I thought you were going to give me, but you're still not looking deep enough. You're thinking as a couple, like one of those cutesy couples on TV, but you shouldn't think of love as being a couple, love should be one." Oliver opened his eyes.
"Whoa, deep." Miley shrugged.
"Yeah, it happens when you're in love." Oliver laughed.
"Jake Ryan?" He missed Miley's flinch. "I'm surprise you can get any deeper then the water on the bottom of the shower with him. I still don't see what you see in him." Miley looked away.
"I see hope." Oliver shrugged.
"Whatever and don't tell me how to love my girlfriend." He gave Miley one last once over before leaving. Miley sighed.
See, there's another one of his problems, he's always thinking for his self. His career, his girlfriend, his love. It should be we, because if you want to stay with someone, you can't just change your life without them, it would be like moving into a new house without any furniture. If you really love someone, they are your everything, not your career or anything else.
--
Lilly had the same idea as Oliver, just a little later on the uptake. She walked up to Miley's house, head down, her heart racing. Except, unlike Oliver, she had no idea what she was going to say to Miley, she had hoped that Miley would come up with the answer, when she heard a familiar voice that made her smile. She hid behind a bush, peering through the limbs to watch Oliver and Mr. S talk. She waited a few minutes, before she knocked herself. Mr. S answered with a sigh.
"Let me guess, here to talk to Miley. 5 minutes, no longer?" Lilly shook her head. He stood aside. "Lilly?" Lilly looked at him, his eyes hopeful. "She's just not the same without her best friend." Then he shut the door and walked away, leaving Lilly there with her mouth open. She shook her head and shut it, walking up the steps.
--
She almost didn't run into the bathroom when Oliver came pounding out of Miley's room, she was still reeling, head spinning, heart pounding from Miley's word. They weren't just beautiful words, they were spoken with passion and she's never heard somebody treat her like that… like she was everything.
She thought she has. The way Oliver holds her, most of the time like she was his prized possession, doesn't want to lose it, but can set it aside. She's always known this, but she's never experienced anything else, so how could she tell it wasn't real love.
She took a deep breath, slowly walked to Miley's doorframe and just watched her for a couple of seconds. Miley was sitting rigid and stock still on her bed, one hand holding up her head, the other gripping her bed sheets so tight, her knuckles were white.
Miley was holding back tears and it was painfully obvious. It stung Lilly's own heart.
She couldn't move, she was so confused; she couldn't even think, she just stood still, looking at Miley but not really seeing her, her mind racing from Miley, to Oliver.
Then, just like that, she realized she cared for Miley, just as much as she cared for Oliver, maybe even more, it was too early to tell.
Oliver was her kiss, her outer needs.
But now she realizes Miley is so much more, she can't talk to Oliver like she can talk to Miley. She can't just sit in a room with Oliver, silent, thinking, like she can with Miley. Oliver has to hold her for her to feel content, but with Miley…
With Miley she feels content just being around her. She swallowed… then knocked on the doorframe, Miley jumped.
Miley stared at Lilly in shock and Lilly's heart sank and Miley visibly looked around, like she was looking for some kind of escape, before her shoulders sagged when she realized she was sitting in her room. Lilly stepped in Miley's room and shut the door.
Miley quickly looked down, again, when their eyes met for a second, she was afraid what she was going to find in them. Miley still didn't look up, even when Lilly sat down on her bed, crossed her legs and stared a hole into the side of Miley's face.
"Okay, look, Miley. I'm sorry. I apologize. I regret the way I acted." Miley still didn't look up. "I just don't want to lose my best friend." Miley moved her head, but switched her gaze back to the floor. Lilly sighed. "Please, Miley. I need you. I don't know how I ever survived with out you before. You're the one person I can talk to about anything and this whole thing is killing me, because I want to talk to you about it, but I can't and I just want to." Miley looked at Lilly, her eyes avoiding Lilly's.
"That's all good. I'm glad to hear that, but what about me, Lilly?" Lilly looked at her.
"You seem to be doing fine with Jakey." Miley looked down, again and Lilly instantly regretted saying that. Lilly raised her hand, dropped it, then raised it, again, slowly bringing it to Miley's hand. She smiled when she rested it on top of Miley's, moving her hand around to grasp Miley's. Miley looked at Lilly's hand and almost pulled away, but her touch, the feel of Lilly is the most magical thing and it's what she wanted, even though she shouldn't. "I'm sorry. I should-"
"No, it's okay. You're right. I'm with Jake, again." Lilly tugged on Miley's hand, getting Miley to look at her.
"I thought-" Miley looked her in the eye and Lilly smiled. "Oh. I get it. 'I see hope.'" Miley smiled, amazed Lilly even knew what she was talking about. Lilly smiled back, surprised Miley knew she heard the conversation. "How'd you know I heard?" Miley looked away.
"You knocked 5 seconds after Oliver left and he didn't realize you were there. It was obvious when you two didn't say anything to each other." Lilly shook her head, then moved closer to Miley, laying her head on Miley's shoulder. Miley's heart was pounding furiously at the fact that Lilly was near her.
Lilly felt content. She felt all her problems drift away, but Miley, on the other hand, couldn't feel content around Lilly, anymore. She was nervous and somehow, Lilly could feel that, most likely the tension drifting off of Miley in waves. She looked up from Miley's shoulder and could see Miley's teeth ground together and her skin pale.
"Miley?" Miley could feel Lilly staring at her, so she just nodded her head. "How do you know that? I mean, with just a kiss, how do you know that?" Miley was confused, she looked at Lilly was questioning eyes. Lilly pleaded back with her eyes, she didn't want to repeat Miley's words. "I mean, I was dating Oliver for months, tons of kisses, make-out sessions –" Miley's teeth ground together harder. "But, I still didn't know until he said something and you don't love Jake –" The answer hit Miley and her eyes widened with shock, shit, was her only coherent thought. "But you have all the makings of the perfect couple. How did you know?" Miley was getting paler; she pulled out of Lilly's grasp, standing up.
"I'm – I'm –" Miley's voice was squeaky and high pitched. She cleared her throat. "I'm grounded. You should probably go now, it's been way longer then 5 minutes, I don't want Daddy grounding me even more, I have a concert tomorrow night and Jake's going to make a guest appearance. Sorry, but I really want him there and I don't want Daddy…" But she trailed off at the look on Lilly's face that clearly told her she didn't believe the lie.
"Your grounded and I know your Dad, he wouldn't even let you go to that concert, let alone see Jake, in the first place." Lilly stood up and Miley's heart dropped into her stomach with nervous butterflies exploding into bats. She backed up towards the door. "I'm just wondering. How did you know, Miley?" Miley turned her back to Lilly, to open the door, but her other hand was grabbed and she was pulled onto the bed, again. All it took, then, was for Lilly to look at her with that puppy dog face. Miley groaned.
"Ugh, you really want to know how? I'll tell you how. It's simple. It's when their world, become your world and their your everything. A smile that leaves goose bumps, a laugh that makes you high and eyes that could leave you feeling naked. It's when it's so powerful; you can hardly breath, anymore. That's how you know you're in love with someone." Miley was looking into Lilly's eyes, before she couldn't take it, any longer and looked away.
Lilly stood up. "I can't believe you changed your classes. Change them back. I can't take class without you there." Then she walked to the door, opened it and almost ran to get outside.
She leaned against the railing on the front porch, closed her eyes and took deep calming breaths. She can't believe how right Miley is. Lilly's practically shaking. She walks in a daze back to her house, forgetting that Oliver would be waiting there.
And there he was, looking all worried on her front porch. He wrapped her up in her arms and it was comforting but she didn't love him.
She loved the way he laughed, his smile when he saw him, the way his arms are so warm, comforting and safe, but she didn't love him.
She said she didn't feel well and he laced her hand with his and it was comforting, it was warm, but it wasn't right. He kissed her forehead and it was comforting, but it just wasn't right.
She lay down on her bed, staring at her wall and contemplating it all, when she thought about her whole relationship, it all boils down to one thing: he's always been there for her. A relationship would make the fact that he was her shelter, only better. But if there's 3 things she's positive of it's that she shouldn't be with him.
When she thinks about sex, its just makes her nervous, not excited and she doesn't believe in a million years, she'd do it with him. His blossoming music career, she's positive that if he went on tour, or went away, she'd be left behind. She's never felt comfortable in public with her display of emotion, like, she doesn't want the world to know. The PDA has always been with Miley and her family.
She reaches for her phone and dials Miley's number.
"Hello?" Miley asks just above a whisper, like Lilly couldn't be calling her.
"Can I come over?" Miley sighs.
"I'm grounded, Lilly." Lilly smirks, she just needs to bring out her charm, 'cause she knows Miley loves her and all it will take is a little begging.
"Yeah, but if you unlock your balcony door and meet me out there in 10 minutes, I can crawl over the railing, again." There's silence.
"Lilly…" A huff. "I'm not strong enough to lift you, like Oliver was. It's not going to work, you can't sneak in and why do you want to come over, anyway? We have school tomorrow."
"Well, Miles." She lowers her voice, like the next thing she's going to say is the most important thing in the world. "I'd like to talk with you." She drawls out and there's a frustrated sigh at the other end, muffled, probably from Miley shoving a pillow over her mouth.
"Meet me at the back porch, I can sneak you in through the back doors."
