Author's Note: Thanks for coming back for the concert! I want to take just a few seconds to mention a movie that I just watched for the first time ever, and it's truly moving. So few movies can capture what love is about, with all its joy, pain, fire, comfort, confusion, fear, and all the other innumerable emotions that go with it, but this film from a few years ago called "Lost and Delirious" did it. Watching it made me smile, laugh, hold my breath, cry, rage, and finally long for that same love that Paulie felt. Whether we have happy endings or tragic ones, love changes all of us once we experience it. The characters in that movie are just screaming for me to take them and do something, so I might indeed do that before long. How in the name of all that's right Piper Perabo didn't get an Oscar or at least a nomination for her amazing performance in it, I'll never know. Maybe Canadian movies are considered foreign films and aren't eligible for the Academy Awards. Paulie and Tori, this chapter is dedicated to the two of you. May your love let you fly together in the face of all storms that come your way.
As always, thanks to all my readers for your sweet reviews and your patience. There have been so many nice questions and comments that I had to reply to each of them as I read them via email, so instead of recognizing them individually I'll instead just give you all a group hug! Now get reading, or you're going to be late for the concert!
Here are my standard disclaimers: I make no claims on any of Disney's, Miley Cyrus', Emily Osment's or Hannah Montana's trademarks or copyrights, and no infringement is intended on them or those of any other artist mentioned. Be forewarned that this story most certainly will contain femslash. If love and affection between two consenting young adults of the same sex bothers you, I suggest you turn right around and find something else to read. Keep any flames to yourself and remember that what our world needs now is more love and acceptance, not more hate. Reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!
We Got Nerve
by Jo P.
Chapter 7: I Like It Loud
I turn it on, I crank it up
I'll show you all what I'm made of
I like it loud, I wear it out
I'll bring the roof and dishes down
I know just what you came here for
And I want to hear you screaming, "More"
Get on your feet, you know you can't resist
Let's do this
--Hannah Montana, "Let's Do This"
As Lilly paced around backstage, she found herself more nervous than usual tonight. She normally didn't get butterflies in her stomach before Miley's concerts now, but tonight was most definitely an exception. She had seen Miley practice different parts of the concert over the last month, but tonight would be her first time seeing the whole thing. Time constraints had forced them to do only parts of the show during the dress rehearsal the day before, but this was a crew that had worked with Hannah for her last three tours; they knew their stuff, and both Lilly and Miley trusted them. Still, tonight's concert would have many, many eyes upon it, and it needed to go smoothly not only for Hannah Montana but also for her new record company, Dreamworld Music.
Lilly smiled as she thought about Miley's ideas that the two of them had worked out over the last few months. She personally thought Miley's ideas were excellent, but it remained to be seen if the crowd would like them. And some parts of the concert Miley had even kept secret from her, particularly the second half of the concert. However, judging from some of the outfits Lilly had seen back in Hannah's dressing room, the sex appeal of the later half of the show was going to shoot through the roof.
No doubt about it. She's trying to give me a heart attack. Lilly fanned herself. It wasn't particularly hot off to the side of the stage where she was standing, but thinking about the rather revealing outfits her wife might be wearing tonight was making Lilly sweat. Lilly smiled as she let her mind wander a bit. Or maybe she's just wanting to get me worked up to make tonight extra special. Lilly smiled as she considered that possibility. Works for me.
Helping her wife cool down after a concert had become something of a ritual for Lilly. When they were younger, before they were dating, Miley would be so energized after a concert that it would take her hours to fall asleep. Lilly would faithfully try to stay up with her best friend until Miley finally dozed off, but most of the time Lilly would succumb to slumber before Miley. What Lilly didn't know until some time later was that whenever she fell asleep while Miley was still wired from performing, Miley would wait until Lilly was solidly sleeping and then carefully lie down next to her friend, gently holding the young girl who had quickly become such an integral part of her life. While Lilly was safely asleep, Miley could look more closely at the girl she was falling in love with; she could run her fingers through Lilly's blonde hair, or trace the outline of her jaw with her fingertip, or very, very cautiously place a soft kiss on Lilly's forehead. Miley quickly found that once she was in contact with Lilly while her best friend was asleep, the nervous energy of the concert would rapidly bleed away and be replaced by a sense of comfort and peace. So it became something of a post-concert ritual, secret at first, for Miley to let Lilly fall asleep, then she would carefully move into position beside her best friend and hold her while she drifted into sleep with Lilly.
As time went by and the two became more comfortable and less guarded about each other's personal space—not that they ever were truly reluctant to be in close proximity—Miley's secret snuggling next to Lilly became not very secret at all. Soon the two of them would find themselves scooting next to each other any time they were sleeping in the same bed after a concert initially, then they found themselves doing it even on regular nights. They had never really discussed it; it had just become something that felt right, something that gave comfort to both of them, so they continued to fall asleep that way. And if an occasional arm or leg "accidentally" fell across one of them during the course of the night, neither of them seemed to be troubled by it.
Back then all I could do was hope, pray and dream that those hugs and touches would become something more. But then all those hopes, dreams and prayers DID come true, and I truly became the luckiest girl in the world. Lilly took another drink of her bottled water. The crew seemed to have everything ready to go; Miley's guitar for the first song was on stage right when it was supposed to be, the curtain was up, concealing the stage from the boisterous audience, and the last technicians were scrambling off the stage.
Lilly turned around, catching sight of Roxy. "Where's Hannah?" she asked the bodyguard, still with the two of them for official events even after nearly eleven years.
"She went back to change her shirt," Roxy said. She leaned in close to Lilly and said, "I think she's wantin' to make a good impression on you." The smile on the solidly built woman's face was evident as she leaned back.
Lilly's reply was forestalled by Miley walking out of the hallway, a big smile on her face. She had decided upon a bright yellow sleeveless shirt to start with, paired with a white miniskirt and pink leggings underneath. She was wearing her white short boots, fringe dangling off their sides as she walked over to her wife. "Hey, hot stuff," Miley said as she hugged Lilly.
"Hey yourself," Lilly answered, unable to keep the grin off her face. "You're gonna blow them away, sweetheart."
"I hope they like the new stuff," Miley said, and Lilly could see a flash of nervousness cross her best friend's face. "And I hope they like the two covers, too."
"Two covers? You only told me about one." Lilly squinted her eyes at her girlfriend. "Hannah..." she said, "you are sneaky."
Miley grinned. "One for each half of the show, but they're both ones you like. Wish me luck?"
Lilly carefully ran her fingers through the long, straight blonde hair of Hannah's. "Thank you for going back to your hair this way," she said lovingly.
"I knew you didn't like the short, fluffy look too much, but I wanted to give it a shot." Miley smiled. "Thanks for putting up with my crazy ideas at times."
"Goes with being your woman... and your wife. The shorter look wasn't bad, it just wasn't—" Lilly looked into Miley's bright blue eyes, pupils dilated in the dim light, and said, "It just wasn't what I think of when I think of your hair."
Miley gave Lilly a soft kiss on the lips. "You just like the long, straight hair because it's what you fell in love with, Lola. Admit it."
Lilly rested her head on Miley's shoulder, taking in the feel of her lover's arms wrapped around her and the smell of Miley's orange shampoo, now a part of Hannah's wig after using this particular one for three years now. "I admit it," Lilly finally said after taking a long breath in and then slowly blowing it out. "It's how I'll always see your hair, Hannah." A thought struck Lilly then, making her lift her head up and look deep into Miley's eyes again. "When you think of me, what color hair do you see me in?"
Miley ran a finger across Lilly's lips, nearly giggling as she saw how her lover's mouth opened ever so slightly to let the tip of her finger slip inside, a natural reflex that showed how much Lilly both wanted and trusted her. After carefully thinking, Miley said, "All of them. I see you in all of your hair colors, like a rainbow. They're all beautiful to me, because they're all part of who you are."
Lily felt her eyes water at Miley's honest words. "No fair making me cry before the concert," she said teasingly as she wiped at her right eye.
"Hey, you asked, I answered," Miley replied, wiping Lilly's left eye for her. "Now give me one more kiss, for luck."
Lilly reached up and lightly gripped Miley's chin with her right hand. "You don't need luck, girlfriend. But I will give you some inspiration." Lilly slid her hand behind Miley's head and pulled her slightly taller wife down, holding her tightly as she gave her a fiery kiss, pushing all the passion and desire she could into the woman she loved. Miley returned those feelings, and the kiss grew rapidly, approaching a boiling point before they both realized how worked up they were getting. They pulled back at once, each staring into the other's eyes with stark hunger in her gaze. "Rock the house, Hannah," Lola whispered. "Then you can rock me at our house."
"Count on it," Hannah answered, giving her wife a dazzling smile as she turned and began walking to the stage, giving the signal to the effects technician to kill all the lights and start the show.
As the arena was suddenly plunged into blackness, there was a collective gasp, followed by even louder cheering and shouting. The black fabric curtain fell only seconds after the lights went out, but it remained so dark inside that no one could see it fall. Slowly the sound of keyboards became audible, faint at first but slowly building in intensity. In time with the gentle ambient sound, pink light began to shine on the back wall of the stage. At first all that could be seen was a soft rose limn at the bottom of the wall, but as the keyboards intensified the pink light brightened to match the music's tone, slowly painting the back wall in a pink hue that continued to grow in intensity. By design the lighting threw everyone and everything on the stage into a murky silhouette, but that did nothing to dampen the cheers of over twenty thousand fans.
As the first notes of a guitar began to ring out sharp and clear, the audience screamed as Hannah's fans watched both sides of the stage, each wanting to be the first to catch a glimpse of the superstar as she ran out onto the stage. Lilly recognized the song as U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name," but then she had also watched Miley singing the song during practice for the last two weeks. Seconds passed as the pink backlight continued to brighten, deepening the silhouette of the lone guitar player, and soon the guitar and keyboards were joined by bass, drums, and another guitar as they joined in while the music built in intensity.
From Lilly's vantage point off to the side of the stage, she could see Miley's back clearly lit with the pink glow as she expertly hit every guitar note that she had practiced for weeks. It had taken her nearly that long to finally be happy with this new guitar's sound, and that came only after she had angrily turned the delay up as far as it would go then used a pair of channel-lock pliers to twist the knob a bit farther. As the music approached the point where the arena lights would flare into life, illuminating the stage and revealing the surprise guitar player, Lilly found herself holding her breath in anticipation of the audience's reaction. Miley had insisted on playing guitar on this song, stating that it would provide a dramatic opening to the show; Lilly had playfully teased her repeatedly about getting the idea from the old documentary U2: Rattle and Hum, which they had watched during movie night with Luanne back in July. Rather than protest futilely, Miley had instead headed off the teasing by kissing Lilly, which Lilly certainly wasn't going to argue with.
As the lasers flashed and the house lights sprang to life, Lilly felt her heart swell as the crowd roared its approval of Hannah Montana playing guitar, hitting the notes like an expert. She watched her wife step forward to the microphone stand and start singing as she kept time on the guitar, and Lilly felt even more proud of the woman she loved. It was hard enough singing and dancing during a show, but singing and playing guitar was even more difficult. Miley was determined to do both when she could, but precious few Hannah songs lent themselves to that treatment. When she had a song she could play guitar on and sing, like their song "When I'm With You," Miley did so; otherwise she focused on singing and dancing like her fans expected Hannah Montana to do.
Lilly finally felt comfortable enough to take a sip of her water now that Miley was well into the opening song. The crowd was cheering wildly with no signs of slacking off, and that made Lilly smile broadly. "You surprised them again, Hannah," she said to herself. "And they love you for it... just like I do."
Once underway, the concert seemed to race by. Before Lilly realized it, Miley was hurrying off the stage for her first costume change. "You are totally kicking ass, sweetheart!" Lilly said gleefully as she followed Miley to her dressing room. She closed the door behind them and opened her mouth to tell her best friend how proud she was of her, but as soon as she turned around Lilly found herself grabbed by the shoulders and pressed against the wall by a fairly sweaty but no less beautiful rock star. Lilly felt her body melt into Miley's hungry kiss, and it was all she could do to hang on as Miley led her back over to the large couch in the dressing room. They fell onto it, Lilly on the bottom and holding on tightly as Miley continued to kiss her deeply. As flashes of light started to sparkle in the periphery of her vision, Lilly felt Miley release the kiss, allowing both young women to gulp down some sweet oxygen. "Wow," Lilly weakly mumbled as lights continued to flash in her vision. "Miss me much?" she asked playfully as she looked up into eyes of blue so deep that she could see the ocean in them.
"I missed you that much," Miley said with a confident smile as she looked down at her loving wife. It amazed Miley at how someone as strong and competitive as Lilly could so effortlessly surrender all she had when it came to her. Even now Lilly had no problem letting Miley take the lead whenever she pleased, such as their kissing just then, simply because she trusted her best friend would never do anything that would hurt her. Miley hadn't deliberately intended to kiss Lilly until they were on the verge of blacking out, but Lilly had never so much as squirmed or hesitated; instead she had happily returned all the intensity and passion that Miley had given her in that devastating kiss. Miley felt her heart skipping a few beats as she considered how much Lilly loved and trusted her. "Is there anything you wouldn't give me?" she asked suddenly, staring intensely into her wife's shimmering blue eyes.
Lilly reached up and delicately moved a lock of silky blonde hair from in front of Miley's beautiful face, tucking it behind her right ear. "No," she answered with a smile both innocent and pure. "I'd give you anything."
Miley swallowed as she tried to grasp the entirety of what Lilly had just said. Should anyone have that much power over another person? Only if that feeling was returned equally, with nothing but love in the heart. Like it is. "You know that—"
"That you'd do the same for me?" Lilly finished for Miley, making her friend smile. "Yeah. I know." She raised her head up to give Miley another kiss, but this one was quick. "Now scoot. You've got to change outfits and get back out there before fifteen thousand teens and preteens rush the stage looking for you."
Miley stood as Lilly helped push her to her feet. "Just fifteen thousand? I thought the show sold out."
"I figured the parents would restrain themselves a bit longer," Lilly said with a smirk as she tossed Miley the top of her next outfit. "Maybe let their kids wear themselves out before they tried to pull them back." As Miley hurriedly pulled on the bright gold sequined shirt, Lilly handed her the black shorts she would wear with it. "How are you holding up, hon?" she asked curiously; she wasn't exactly worried about Miley and the baby, but she couldn't help but be curious as to how Miley's pregnant body was doing under the exertion of the concert.
"She's doin' great, girlfriend," Miley said as she sat down and tugged on her burnished gold satin boots. "And I'm doin' just fine, thanks to you gettin' me into shape over the last few years."
Lilly smiled. "I told you it'd help you when we got pregnant," she said smugly.
Miley stopped and gently pressed the tip of her index finger into Lilly's chest on her way out the dressing room door. "WE are not pregnant," she said playfully. "I'm the one who threw my guts up for five weeks."
Lilly dutifully followed Miley out of the dressing room, skipping along behind her best friend as they hurried back to the stage. She raised her voice so Miley could hear her over the cheers and cries of the crowd, saying, "Yes, but I'm the one who held your hair out of the toilet every time you threw up, remember, dear? At the cost of throwing up myself once or twice, I might add."
Miley spun to face Lilly, an adorable grin on her face. She leaned in close and said, "I know, and I love you even more for every time you were there." She kissed Lilly on the lips, then she turned around and ran back out onto the stage; immediately the cheers doubled in intensity as she launched into "Nobody's Perfect."
Lilly stared at her lover as she instantly picked up the steps for "Nobody's Perfect," probably the most difficult choreography for any of Hannah's songs now. Despite being almost three months into her pregnancy, Miley nailed every move of the dance, and her strong voice didn't waver thanks to long months of physical conditioning. "You're amazing," Lilly said to herself, and deep inside her twenty-two year old body there was still a little girl who fell in love with Hannah Montana all over again every time Lilly watched her perform.
After nearly ninety minutes, the first half of the show finally came to an end. Hannah came back out for three encores, each time to cries as loud as they were at the beginning of the concert. When she came off the stage and the house lights went up for a twenty minute intermission, Miley was sweating but elated. "Oh my gosh, that was an awesome crowd!" she gushed as Lilly handed her a towel and a bottle of Gatorade.
"C'mon," Lilly said as she led Miley to her dressing room. "You need to get off your feet for a few minutes and rest up. You still have another show to do tonight." As they closed the dressing room door behind them, Miley fell onto the soft couch, fanning herself with the towel. "I'll get you a washcloth so you can wash off a bit, Hannah," Lilly said as she walked to the private bathroom. "Don't want you all stinky when you go back out there for your fans."
"They can't smell me," Miley said teasingly. "I'm up on the stage!"
Lilly poked her head back out of the bathroom as the sound of running water became clear. "I can smell you," she said flatly. "And right now I want sexy, not sweaty."
"Sexy is sweaty in some cases," Miley replied, grinning as she waited on Lilly's retort. Instead she got a cold washcloth slapped onto her face without warning. "AH!" she yelled, surprised and a bit startled.
Lilly giggled as she watched her girlfriend jump up off the couch in front of her. "When you're all sweaty because we've been making love for two hours straight later tonight, then that'll be sexy. Right now, sweaty equals stinky. So un-sweaty yourself."
Miley grumbled as she washed her neck, back and armpits with the cool washcloth, but she did feel a bit better after washing off. She tossed the washcloth into the hamper in the corner, hitting it cleanly on the first shot. "YES!" she cried out, raising her arms over her head in victory.
Lilly sat down on the couch and patted the seat beside her. Miley smiled and sat next to her wife, lying down so she could rest her head in Lilly's lap. Lilly began to gently play with Miley's ear as they relaxed, letting Miley gather her strength for the final half of the show. After about ten minutes Miley finally got up and stretched, groaning happily as she did so.
"That's amazing, how much just having you hold me re-energizes me," Miley said. "But now I have to get ready for the more grown-up show, which means you need to step out for a minute." Miley winked as she gently pushed Lilly to the door.
"I don't get to watch you get dressed?" Lilly protested feebly as she walked to the door.
"Nope."
"Not fair!"
"You get to help me get undressed when the show's over. That work for you?"
After a moment's consideration, Lilly nodded. "That works."
Before Lilly could close the door, Miley grabbed her from behind and whispered in her ear. "When I get done with the show tonight, you are gonna be so hot for me that we'll be lucky to make it to the limo before you have your hands down my pants."
Lilly shuddered at the combination of Miley's sexy voice, warm breath and titillating words. She swallowed and walked out of the dressing room quickly, because she could feel the heat seeping down the back of her neck. Dang it, now I have to wait another hour or so all worked up like this!
As the lights went down to start the second half of the show, Lilly found herself eagerly awaiting Hannah's return to the stage. As she heard whistles and catcalls behind her, Lilly turned to see her wife wearing a strapless black evening dress, with the skirt ending about halfway down her thighs. A glittering belt covered with diamonds and a rainbow of colored precious stones provided the only accent to the ebony dress other than Hannah's blonde hair and healthy skin. "Wow!" said Lilly, taking in Hannah's look, which managed to be risqué, daring, sexy and still elegant all at once. "That's a beautiful dress, and the belt is out of this world!"
Miley proudly spun once, letting Lilly get a good look. "Glad you like it," she said. She leaned in close to her best friend and whispered, "The gemstones aren't real!"
Lilly smiled and whispered back, "I didn't think they would be. You're too smart with our money." As she and Miley shared a quick laugh, she said aloud, "It can be our little secret."
"Deal." Miley took a look out on the stage, then she said, "Gotta go!"
"Keep it rocking, Hannah!" yelled Lilly as the rock star ran back onto the stage to more applause. This time they weren't as many high-pitched shrieks of younger fans; instead the cheers were deeper and heartier, signifying the fans out there now were definitely not children.
Lilly found herself entranced by Hannah's new show. The more mature sound and look was completely different, but the fans continued to scream for more. Miley sang several of Hannah's new songs, including "Rock Your Body," "Nothing to Lose" and "The Tree in the Cemetery," along with a few of her older ones like "See You Again," "G.N.O." and "Start All Over." Lilly was particularly surprised that Miley chose to sing "The Tree in the Cemetery," because she had written that song during Christmas two years ago when they were back in Misty Hollow. It was an intensely personal song about Miley's mother and how they would talk to her when they visited the cemetery, but even with the emotion behind the song Miley sang it eloquently, standing in front of the microphone and stand with just a simple spotlight illuminating her as she sang the deeply moving words she wanted to tell her mother. Lilly found herself crying before Miley was halfway through the song, and she expected many of those in the audience were wiping tears as well before the song was over.
When that song was over, Lilly was waiting to give Miley a supportive hug as soon as she stepped off the stage. "That made me cry, sweetheart. It was perfect," she said as she held Miley long enough for her best friend to cry for a few seconds. Once those few seconds were over, Miley straightened up, her eyes slightly red and moist but her smile back in place.
"Thanks, Lola," Miley said as she looked deeply into those eyes that held nothing but love and support for her.
"Anytime, Hannah," Lilly answered as she saw the same reflected in Miley's own blue eyes. "Now go change. You just have a few songs left, I think."
"I have two songs left," Miley said cheerily. "The first one you're going to love, and the second one you're going to hate by the time it's over."
Lilly was so surprised by Miley's words that she was momentarily speechless. "Why am I going to hate it?" she finally asked as she followed Miley back to her dressing room.
Miley turned and said, "Because it'll be the only thing standin' between you, me and us makin' love, and by the time I'm done with it you'll be crawlin' the walls for me." She winked and closed the door to the dressing room, leaving a dumbstruck Lola in the hallway.
Lilly made her way back to the wing just off the stage, where the crowd was screaming for more Hannah. When Miley came back to the stage, Lilly felt her heart skip more than one beat as she saw how her wife was dressed. Miley's top was a shimmering sable halter top, coming less than halfway down her chest and leaving a tremendous amount of her firm abdomen bare. The light brown pants had an extremely low-cut waist, showing the crests of Miley's hips clearly and dipping dangerously low toward her pelvis. A silver body chain with a few scattered charms along its length was wrapped around Miley's waist, well above the top of her pants. The fabric of the pants clung to Miley's legs and butt tightly enough to let Lilly see that her girlfriend was either wearing a thong or wasn't wearing any underwear whatsoever, which made her even more turned on at that moment. As Lilly came to that realization, she felt her body heat up deep inside in a very natural response to how insanely hot her wife looked.
Lilly grabbed Miley's arm as she walked by. "I'm wet," she whispered before she kissed Miley deeply.
Miley grinned. "Told ya," she said with a smile before she grabbed Lilly's butt playfully. "Just think about how good it's gonna feel when you strip these pants off me," she breathed against Lilly's cheek before giving her another kiss. "And I'm wet too, lover," she whispered, then she turned and walked back onto the stage.
As Miley thanked the crowd for being so enthusiastic, Lilly found her eyes glued to her beautiful wife. She's even more beautiful now. She doesn't look the least bit pregnant, except for that tiny bulge right above her belly button. And nobody but me could notice it at this point. What brought her out of her daydream was the music that started playing as Miley said to the crowd, "This is an old song that Lola loves called 'Bat Out of Hell!' Let's hear it, Los Angeles! C'mon!"
"You totally rock," Lilly quietly said to Miley, although there was no way Miley could hear her over the distance between them, the music playing and the roar of the crowd. But still, just as Lilly said those words, Miley turned and gave her wife a smile and wave that convinced Lilly that she really had felt and understood Lilly's feelings without needing to hear the words. And for the next seven minutes Hannah Montana belted out the song that launched Meatloaf's career with as much passion and power as she possibly could, making goosebumps rise and fall across Lilly's body in time with her strong voice. At the climactic point of the song where the protagonist fatally crashes a motorcycle, pyrotechnics around the platform Miley was standing on suddenly ignited in a brilliant flash as the platform quickly dropped below the rest of the stage, making it look like Hannah had disappeared. The effect was so quick and surprising that Lilly's breath caught in her throat; only when Miley began to sing again did Lilly allow herself to breathe once more. The platform slowly brought Miley back into view of the audience, all of whom had been just as surprised as Lilly. The metal platform continued to slowly rise until it was once more level with the stage, but as Miley began singing the last few lines of the song, she herself began to rise off the ground, sending another jolt of surprise through Lilly's body.
Lilly strained until she could finally see the wires supporting the harness Miley had slipped on while she was out of sight of the audience. By now her wife was slowly flying over the stage, delivering the final lines of the song in a quite original fashion. The crowd was jumping up and down with excitement as Miley held the last note for long seconds, finally touching down onto the stage once more and kneeling as the music finished playing.
As Miley slipped out of the harness which quickly disappeared up into the rafters, the crowd applauded and cheered at her surprising performance. Miley picked up the microphone and walked to the front of the stage, taking the long walk out into the crowd along the elevated walkway protruding from the central stage. "Okay, everybody, you've been the best crowd ever, but I only have one more song to leave ya'll with tonight. I hope every one of you has had a great time tonight, because I know I've loved every second of it!" She turned and pointed to Lilly as she said, "But I've got the most beautiful wife in the world waitin' on me over there, and the rest of tonight is already promised to her." Miley blew Lilly a kiss as she said, "Lola, I love you, sweetheart. Thank you for supporting me and loving me like you do, girlfriend." She looked over her shoulder at the crowd once more and said, "This is an older song of mine called 'Let's Get Crazy,' so do it! Get crazy!"
As the music for "Let's Get Crazy" began to play, Miley began swaying her hips in a suggestive manner that made Lilly's mouth go dry. As she started to sing, Miley turned to look at her true love, pointing an outstretched arm at Lilly while she began to dance, grinding as if Lilly was standing on stage with her. While Miley still made sure to sing and perform mainly for her larger audience in front of the stage, she also cast several smoldering looks at her audience of one just off the stage. Miley's seductive dancing and sultry singing made Lilly's heart pound and her vision spin as Miley's voice washed over her like a hot shower on a cold winter morning. When Miley extended her arm and motioned for Lilly to join her on stage, Lilly numbly walked to the beautiful siren calling her forth, unable—and unwilling—to resist the call of the woman she loved. Miley was finishing the song, but she reached out and put her arm around Lilly's waist as soon as she was close enough to do so. As Miley sang the last words of the song, she held the last notes long seconds as Lilly grinned. This close Lilly could feel the energy radiating off her wife, could taste the love and lust coming from her Miley. She looked into Miley's eyes, pupils wide with adrenaline as the two young women leaned their foreheads against each other. The screams of the crowd slowly faded as the rest of the world seemed to fall away from them, leaving only the two of them.
"Hey," Lilly said, unable to control the quirky grin that was spreading across her face.
"Hey," Miley replied, trying to hold a straight face but failing miserably.
"I liked the show tonight." Somewhere in the distance Lilly was aware that people were cheering and whistling, but it seemed to be miles from where they stood, arms encircled around each other's waist.
"Yeah, it was pretty good." Miley could feel her self-control ebbing, and suddenly she became acutely aware of how much she wanted to make love to her wife. To make love to her best friend. To make love to the only lover her body and soul would ever know. "You ready to go home?" she asked, keeping her voice as calm as she possibly could.
Lilly nodded. "I'm ready to go home. To our home."
"Then let's go."
Lilly hesitated momentarily. "Aren't you going to be signing autographs after the concert?"
Miley slowly shook her head. "Not tonight. I need you more than they need me."
"But—"
"Shhh," Miley said, gently touching Lilly's lips with her fingertip. "In just a few seconds they'll be announcing that I'll be at a CD signing next week for the new album's release. I'll do plenty of autographs there."
Lilly grinned. "Okay, that works." She turned with Miley and waved goodbye to the crowd, and now she could once again focus on the cheers of the audience.
"Thank you, L.A.!" Miley said into the microphone. "Hope you fun tonight, 'cause I had a blast! Be careful drivin' home, and I'll see you at my CD signin' next week!" She waved once more, then she and Lilly walked off the stage, hand in hand.
Four long, pleasurable hours later Miley ran a hand through her sweaty hair as she and Lilly lay entangled in their bed. Or what was left of it. Pillows and clothes were strewn across the room like the trail of a small tornado. One pillow actually remained on the bed, firmly under Miley's head and resting on the bare mattress where they had tugged loose both the bottom sheet and down mattress pad with their heated amorous activities. Most of the top sheet was pooled on the floor beside the bed, but one strip of it clung stubbornly to the bed close to their feet. Their blanket was nowhere to be seen. Maybe we threw it behind the dresser over there. Wait. It's out on the balcony. We took it out there a while ago, to make love beneath the moon and stars. Miley smiled again. That had been exhilarating, feeling the cool ocean breeze against their hot, sweaty skin as they quietly made love, taking care not to wake up or disturb their neighbors. I need to make sure I get it before I fall asleep, in case it rains.
In fact, Miley was a bit surprised that she was still awake. She always fell asleep when Lilly did after they made love; they had done so for years now. So why the heck am I... Miley almost laughed as the simple answer hit her. "Can't sleep either?" she asked her wife, kissing the top of her head, blonde hair slightly pasted into place from her own sweating.
"Nah," said Lilly, her voice husky from the yelling she had been doing over the last few hours. "Too wired from tonight's concert still. Plus I'm enjoying just lying here with you."
"I know what you mean, girlfriend."
"It went really, really well, Miles. I mean, really well. I heard the guy from Rolling Stone say it was one of the best concerts he'd seen in years."
Miley thought for a minute before she finally spoke. "Is it wrong of me to want people to like my music and my concerts so badly?"
Lilly lifted her head to look into Miley's blue eyes, but they were fixed to the ceiling. "Hey," she said gently as she slid her body up Miley's, sucking in a reflexive breath as their breasts rubbed across each other. "It means you're human, and an artist. Of course you want people to like what you do, Miles, and they do. You've got a very special gift, and you need to share that gift with the rest of the world. You need to sing about love and friendship and growing up and about how you have to give everything you've got to achieve your goals in life. Girls today need to hear that. People need to hear that. We need to be reminded that we're still alive, and that not everything in life sucks or causes us pain. There's still lots of good in us, too."
Miley kissed Lilly warmly, thrilling at the sensation of Lilly running her fingers through Miley's hair while they kissed. "We need to get the blanket before we fall asleep," Miley managed to say when they paused for breath.
"Not supposed to rain tonight," replied Lilly, who didn't seem willing to let Miley go for even a moment. "I want you to stay here with me, Miles."
"Lilly, honey, it's just over there at the balcony."
Lilly shook her head. "Uh uh. Not even for a second. You're mine for the rest of the night, and I say you keep your cute little rear parked right here in this bed with me." She looked up into Miley's curious eyes and said, "I'm not letting you go." She settled back down beside Miley, curling up against her lover's body and possessively throwing her left leg across Miley's waist.
Miley felt her body respond to Lilly's action, heating up again as she felt her wife's wetness press against her left hip. She turned her head and kissed the blonde she had sworn her life to a hundred times over. "I'll never let you go either, Lilly. I swear it." As she saw Lilly smile and close her eyes, Miley did the same.
"Let me go!" squealed Lilly in a voice that sounded much younger that Miley was expecting. Before Miley knew what was going on, she found herself tossed to the side and promptly pinned by arms strong but careful in their grip on her. She couldn't see anything due to the mass of her thick hair piled on top of her face by the sudden movement, so she tossed her head from side to side, trying to move her hair enough to see Lilly. She knew it was her by the way her body tingled where those hands and fingers held her, even through the sleeves of the jacket she was wearing.
The hands holding Miley's arms down suddenly released their grip, and Miley felt her hair being moved to the side. Staring down at her was the woman she loved, but her face was younger, much younger. "Lilly?" Miley asked, confused. "What..."
Judging from the expression on Lilly's face, she was just as surprised as Miley. "Miles, you're... like, fifteen!"
"So are you," Miley said, reaching up to trace the lines of her wife's face, just now beginning to show hints of the lovely woman Lilly would grow into. "You're still beautiful."
"So are you," Lilly said, leaning down to kiss Miley before helping her sit up. "Where are we?" she asked, looking around.
There was a tang in the air that Miley recognized as that of impending snow. All around them were trees in various stages of shedding their leaves, and those leaves had been raked into a large pile beside the two of them. "This is my old climbing tree," Miley finally said. "Back at Mamaw's."
"Ohhhh," Lilly said as she also looked around. "I didn't recognize it because we always come out here when it's warmer." She smiled at Miley and said, "Looks like we'll be out here during fall some time, huh?"
"Yeah, but..." Miley scratched her head, removing a leaf from her hair as Lilly giggled. Miley couldn't help but smile as the sound of that high-pitched giggle. Lilly's voice had deepened slightly as they had grown up, but all it took was hearing that adolescent giggle again for it to sound as natural as breathing to Miley.
"But what?" asked Lilly as she shifted onto her hands and knees like a playful puppy. "What's on your brain, Miles?"
"Why are we fifteen again?"
Lilly stared at Miley for a moment before saying, "It's a dream, Miley. We could be in space if the dream wanted us there."
Miley shook her head. "No, not a special dream. I know that's what this is, I can feel it." She pulled Lilly close to her, taking her hands in her own and forcing Lilly to sit up. Lilly responded to that by crawling into Miley's lap, leaning in so closely to her girlfriend that she could have licked her nose if she wanted to.
"LILLY!"
"What?"
"You licked my nose!"
Lilly grinned. "Yeah, so I did. Whatcha gonna do about it, Truscott?"
Hearing her married name made Miley pause before extracting revenge upon the girl she loved. She lifted her left hand so she could see her wedding ring, snug on her finger where it had always been. "Lilly, my wedding ring!"
Lilly turned Miley's hand over, inspecting the ring closely. "Yeah, that's what it is alright."
"Okay, be serious for a minute, Lil! We weren't married at fifteen, so why are we wearing our wedding rings?"
Lilly rolled her eyes. "Miles, like I told you, it's a dream—"
"A special dream! And our special dreams always show us the future, right?"
THAT made Lilly pause. "Yeah," she said after thinking carefully. "You're right, they do. They always seem to show us something good from our future."
"So why are we younger in this dream instead of older?"
"I don't know," admitted Lilly. "But we're together," she said, smiling that smile that always brightened Miley's day, "and as long as I'm with you, I'm happy."
Miley smiled and kissed Lilly again as her hands carefully felt their way along the lithe body hidden underneath the red jacket Lilly was wearing, the memories of exploring Lilly's body for the first time coming back to her in a rush that took her breath away. "I'm happy, too," she finally said. "And that's all that matters."
"So let's enjoy this dream while we have it," Lilly said, pausing for a second before she tackled Miley, driving both of them into the pile of leaves behind them. "And if you waste any more special dream time trying to figure this out, I swear I'll tickle you until you pee in your pants."
Miley just laughed and rolled Lilly over into what was left of the leaf pile.
As Lilly blinked her eyes open, she saw that the sun was just beginning to rise. Pink tendrils stretched across the blueish-gray sky, painting a picture of vivid beauty. Lilly admired the sky for several seconds before she found something even more beautiful to admire. She settled back down next to her wife, this time taking Miley's head and resting it on her chest. She moved Miley's hair so that it didn't conceal any of the brunette's beauty, and Lilly felt her heart swell again at how blessed the two of them were, to have each other.
Lilly could hear the ocean's dull roar, calling her out to play with it for a bit. The surfing would be wonderful, it seemed to tell her, and you could be back before she wakes up. Lilly smiled and looked out the window. Not this morning, ocean. This morning I just want to roll over, wrap my arms around the woman I love and go back to sleep.
And she did just that.
Author's Afterword: Don't worry, Lilly has already gotten onto Miley about the need to avoid sudden drops while she's pregnant. She also let her have it over the flying over the stage part, too. I expect that Hannah won't be doing those tricks much longer. I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, and one day that particular special dream will make sense—after you read the final story in this septology. However, that day is quite a ways off. Finishing this concert marks the first major checkpoint I have for this story, and there are many more checkpoints to come. Expect to see more of what Mikayla is up to in the next chapter, and we'll also have some special guests dropping by as well.
On a more serious note, take a moment and enjoy being alive. Appreciate something that you take for granted, and be grateful for having it. Life has no guarantees, so we have to have fun as we go. Oh, and if you're also a "Lost and Delirious" fan (or even if you were just moved by it like I was), I'll be posting a story picking up where the movie left off sometime. Right now I'm not sure if it'll be a oneshot or maybe two or three chapters. Anyway, when it's up come see my interpretation of the movie's ending and let me know what you think.
See you at the next chapter!
-- Jo --
