Sucky chapter name, I know, but I couldn't think of anything original. But woo! It's Tuesday, and as promised, my next update! Yeah boyyeee! Haha.

Enjoy the Moliver love. ;)


Don't Kiss the Girl
by Broken Oken

Chapter Nine: Friend Behavior Issues (Miley)


Kyle draped his arm around my shoulders as we exited the theatre. I wasn't completely sure why this didn't give me the normal butterflies I was used to feeling around him, but I think… weirdly enough… it had something to do with, well, Oliver.

He had shown up randomly in the middle of my movie with Kyle, which was ridiculously boring anyway, so seeing him there kind of, I don't know, excited me a little bit? Even though he was almost taken away by security, I just had to smile at the sight of him. Trust me to decide to be all weirdly smiley like that.

And then Lilly had popped up next to me, looking flushed and out of breath. I was alarmed when the first thing that ran through my mind was that she was there in the theatre with Oliver, when he's supposedly in love with me

And her red face suggested something she might've been doing in the theatre with him…

… And it… I don't know… bugged me? A lot?

But she gave me a rushed explanation that they were only there playing pranks on each other, normal Lilly and Oliver behavior, so that relieved me… for some reason.

After Lilly left, Kyle suggested that maybe we should just ditch the movie all together and go on a walk through the park. I smiled gratefully up at him. A walk in the park would take away my confusion for the time being.

So as we walked towards the park in the lighted areas of streetlights, Kyle pulled me in closer with one of his strong arms. My reaction to this was completely abnormal; I didn't feel comfortable all of a sudden.

Kyle seemed to notice me stiffen. "You all right?" he asked. "Cold?"

Maybe that was it. It was a little chilly outside, so I nodded with a smile, and I was pressed even more tightly to him, which I found to be not what I wanted at all. What's wrong with me? He's my boyfriend!

I was more than relieved to reach the park. I figured we could swing on the swings, or just have some stupid fun together, but as soon as we got there, Kyle had other ideas. He immediately sat us down at one of the benches. I looked at him, confused.

"I don't think I've told you tonight how pretty you look."

His charming smile made the butterflies return. But something didn't seem right about them this time.

"Thanks," I muttered quietly, realizing his face had been closing in on my own. He was going to kiss me.

Normally, I'd go right in, but… I didn't want to for some reason. I honestly didn't want to, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with this boy.

He opened his eyes when he saw me not responding appropriately. "Is there something wrong?"

I blushed.

Yes. I don't want to kiss you, and you're, like, pointblank gorgeous. Something is very wrong.

"Er, no. Not at all."

He smirked at me. "You sure?"

"Um, sure?"

Despite how unsure I actually sounded, Kyle re-closed his eyes to prepare to kiss me again. I still didn't lean in, but Kyle didn't seem to care this time. He went all the way to my lips, pressing his warm ones against them.

Oddly enough, the image of Oliver emerged in my mind as this happened, and I turned an even deeper shade of red.

I think Kyle was more surprised than I was when I didn't kiss back.

He pulled away, staring at me, and something flashed in his eyes I couldn't identify. "Miley, tell me what's wrong," he commanded.

"I already told you, nothing."

I felt really bad all of a sudden because Kyle looked pretty upset after I said that. I really didn't know why I didn't kiss back. Somehow, Oliver had stopped me. And he wasn't even there.

"You like someone else," Kyle said flatly.

I shook my head quickly, both to answer his question and to rid the reappearing image of Oliver's face from my mind. "No I don't!"

He frowned. "I'm not blind, Miley. I can see it in your eyes when you look at him."

Look at who?! My mind had wondered.

But my mouth, on the other hand, seemed to know exactly whom he was talking about, because I suddenly found myself blurting out, "Oliver?"

Yeah, Oliver. What is wrong with me?!

Kyle nodded gravely, and I just sat there on the bench in shock at what I had just said. I didn't look at Oliver in any different kind of way… oh crap, did I?

"Oliver's only a friend, Kyle," I said swiftly. "He's a donut."

The word seemed to amuse Kyle a little bit; I could see a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

"Listen, Miley, right now, sure, you guys are 'only friends'," his words were joined with finger quotes. "But, even if you don't realize it yet, you both… I don't know, have something I envy. You have this… smile you only have for him. I don't ever get that smile no matter how often I try."

The words sunk into me more than they should have. I tried my best to hide it; I didn't like where this conversation was going at all.

"Kyle, I smile for you, too," I whined.

He grinned a little. "Yeah, the same smile you have saved for everyone else. You should've seen yourself back there in the theatre when he showed up. I had been trying to convince myself that maybe I was imagining things, but when that giant smile crept onto your face… I just knew it was over."

"Over?" I choked, wanting to cry.

"Miley, okay… I really like you. So much. And I know you may think you like me back, somewhere in there." He gestured to my chest, and I blushed, and then he suddenly did, too. "Er, well, you know what I meant. But it would be dumb of me to stay with you when I'm only waiting for the day you'll realize who you really care about."

I started bawling on the spot. How was it that he thought he could tell me what I was feeling? He didn't have a clue! I didn't like Oliver! So why was he trying to force feed that into me?!

"But I like you, Kyle, please," I was pathetically begging; now wishing I had kissed him back so this might not have ruined my entire night. Oliver was messing everything up! And yet again, he wasn't even THERE!

Kyle lifted a hand and brushed away a tear. "I like you, too, Miley, you're a great, funny, and smart girl, but I just think we'd be better off as friends."

I couldn't even speak I was so upset. With a kiss on my wet cheek, he stood up. "I'll drive you home. Wait here, the car's just down the street, I'll pull it up so you don't have to walk."

He walked away from me, and I hugged myself, now alone, not to mention a freezing emotional wreck, on the park bench. This wasn't supposed to be how the date went. I didn't like Oliver! Just because he might be in love with me, didn't make me start realizing anything special about him! I mean, c'mon, all these things I've known before—I've always noticed his decent sized arm muscles, that his jokes are actually sometimes funny, and that adorable smile…

Wait… Muscles? Funny jokes? Adorable smile?

The thoughts confused me. The tears stopped pouring down my face and I sniffled, lifting my head to try and comprehend what was racing through my mind at the moment. Did I like Oliver that way?

My thoughts became interrupted at a nearby voice. I at first thought it might be Kyle, but then… it became a lot more familiar.

"… and brushed up against some girl's leg and then she went all psycho and crazy redhead on me!" the male voice was saying loudly across the park.

I got up from my seat on the bench and curiously began to walk over to the bush where I had heard the sound coming from.

"You did?!" he exclaimed. I faltered a little in my steps. I recognized that voice anywhere. "Does she know what we were up to?"

After a few more seconds, I casually leaned over the bush, and saw him, the boy I had just been thinking about, sitting there, back turned towards me. I opened my mouth to say something, when unknown to him, I was interrupted.

"Phew. The last thing I would want her to know is that we were trying to ruin her date with Kyle."

The words caught me entirely off guard. I felt all thoughts of liking Oliver as more than a friend leave me, and now I was just plain angry for thinking that I might have actually considered liking such a… such a jerk!

"What?!" I hissed at him.

Oliver twitched at my voice but did not turn around. His head leaned backward, and his eyes took me in.

"M-Miley?" he asked tentatively.

I didn't know whether to cry some more or yell. I was already really upset, and what I had just heard made my brain hurt even more, so without warning, I felt more tears roll down my cheek.

"No, it's the Easter Bunny," I remarked sarcastically, glaring. I was so, so, so angry, but I couldn't help but cry at the same time.

He got to his feet in less than a second and stepped forward to try and hug me. I stepped backward, and confusion swept over his face. "Miley, what's wrong?"

"Oh, n-nothing," I said as the tears continued falling. "Let's just say that my boyfriend just broke up with me, and I've just discovered my two best friends are backstabbers! Congratulations, you can tell Lilly on the phone there that you guys succeeded! I'm now single! Not that I know why you guys would do this. Kyle never did anything wrong. Nothing! He was, he was a good guy!"

It wasn't until the last sentence that realized I had collapsed on the ground to my knees in absolute hysterics.

I didn't throw Oliver off of me this time when he put his arms around me. I was really mad at him, but a hug was a hug, and I definitely needed one.

"Miley, shh," Oliver whispered, stroking my hair. "No, no, Kyle really is a great guy… I… just… I didn't trust him. I just hate seeing you get hurt."

"Well, good job, genius, I'm still hurt!" I sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Miles. I really am. Why did he break up with you anyways?" I must've missed the sudden change of tone from comforting to irritated. "Lilly and I didn't even succeed. I didn't get to plant the whoopee cushion. He can't be too great if he dumped you just like that."

I didn't want to say the real reason why Kyle had dumped me, and even though Oliver is one of my best friends, I was angry with him, so I decided to be a bad person and lie about it.

"He says that it's hard to date a sophomore when he's a senior. And he'd just hurt me more later if we kept up with this. He didn't think it'd be so hard…"

I heard Oliver scoff. "That's a dumb reason," he said, sounding angry. "Did he just leave you here or what?"

His answer didn't come from me, but from another certain boy, a little ways away.

"Er, no, I actually didn't…"

I lifted my head from Oliver's arms to see Kyle standing next to us and his car parked alongside the curb.

I realized then how horrible this must've looked. Kyle had just accused me of having feelings for the person who was now holding me. Great. Just beautiful.

Kyle's sad look returned, and I noticed that Oliver was just downright glaring at him, totally not feeling any sympathy for the boy who had pretty much just ended my world. Not that Oliver would understand why Kyle looked so sad…

"I was gonna take her home," Kyle said to him.

"Well, not anymore, I got this taken care of, okay?"

The hostility in Oliver's voice… I was not used to that. He was actually really angry with Kyle. Oliver was not an angry person.

Kyle shuffled the keys awkwardly in his hands. "Okay then… um, Miley, I'm really sorry."

I tried to say something, but Oliver beat me to it with a gruff, "Just leave."

Kyle nodded, looking at me sincerely one last time before walking over to his car and eventually driving away.

"He's an idiot," Oliver stated once my ex-boyfriend left. "For breaking your heart, I should break his… pinky fingers."

For some reason, I found myself giggling slightly at that, despite how sad I felt.

"Oliverrr, don't make me laaaugh."

Oliver put his hands on my shoulders, pushing me back gently to look at my crying face oddly. "Laugh? I'm… funny? You actually think I'm funny?" The eager look in his eyes was so amusing that smiling was just too hard not to do.

"Y-yeah." I hadn't noticed until just that stuttering moment that I hadn't been breathing properly from hyperventilating so hard earlier.

"That's awesome!" he squeaked, then his face reddened. "Er, I mean, yeah… that's… cool."

I wiped away a tear, smiling at him fondly. "Um… I just want to say… thanks."

"Thanks? For what? Trying to destroy your love life? Because that really doesn't deserve a thanks—"

"No, it's okay, really, Oliver," I said, stopping him from continuing any further. "Do you wanna know why he really broke up with me?"

The confusion on his face transformed into fury. "He cheated on you, didn't he!"

"Um… No."

"Oh, then… carry on."

I smiled again. I halfway wondered if it was the smile Kyle had referred to earlier. "Well, he said he thought that maybe I… had feelings for you."

I swear I heard crickets chirping, it got so silent.

Oliver seemed to be searching my face for something for a long time before he finally spoke.

"…Do you?" his voice was velvet soft.

"No!" I replied loudly and way too quickly to even be classified as the truth. And that worried me. I didn't want him to actually think I did… when I don't… right?

The look on Oliver's face was almost an exact replica of the one Kyle had when I hadn't kissed him back. You could tell he was trying to act relieved, but the smile on his face was completely forced.

I felt guilt seeping into me. I had completely forgotten the fact that Oliver's supposedly in love with me. Beautiful.

"That's… good," he said lamely and without any emotion.

"Yeah," I remarked just as emotionless. We sat there on our knees for a few more seconds, both of us looking away, avoiding all eye contact.

So very awkward.

"I better get you home," Oliver suddenly announced. His expression bore one hundred percent seriousness, an expression I didn't like to see on the face of someone so usually light-hearted. I'm so terrible… just because I'm heartbroken… I shouldn't be breaking his heart… not that I want to. Er, wait, what?

He helped to raise me from the ground, where I found my legs were very wobbly when I tried to stand up straight. So basically, I ended up stumbling into him, our cheeks awkwardly touching, and he muttered something I couldn't understand before wrapping an arm around my waist to give me balance.

I blushed. When did things get so weird between us?

Oliver directed me to his car, which was parked about four blocks away. The walk there was almost complete silence, until around the end of the third block, when Oliver started smiling widely out of nowhere.

"What?" I asked him, glad that at least he was smiling now rather than frowning.

"Just thinking about planting the whoopee cushion in Kyle's chair and what loud embarrassment I would've caused him."

I hit him playfully. "Oliver!"

He grinned innocently. "Whaaat? It would've been hilarious. You gotta admit it."

"Yeah, 'cause passing gas is right up there on top of the funny list."

He shrugged. "Hey, I'm a guy. Gas is the definition of hilarious."

I laughed, subconsciously realizing I was now walking closer to him. I think Oliver noticed, too, because his eyes began watching my side… but he didn't seem to mind what I was doing. Instead, the grin on his face seemed to grow.

On the way home, I realized I was having a hard time trying to be upset over Kyle. Oliver and I had finally stopped our little awkwardness, thank goodness, and we both laughed as one of my Hannah songs blasted onto the radio.

In an overly high-pitched voice, Oliver sang along with it.

"NOBODY'S PERFECT! I GOTTA WORK IT!" he screeched.

I could barely breathe, I was laughing so hard. Even as he drove, he managed to do lame dance moves and sing to the song. It was so entertaining that I had almost forgot I had been dumped just fifteen minutes earlier.

We eventually arrived at my driveway, and Oliver twisted the knob on the radio to silence the music. And… then it got awkward again. Greeeat, right? I was so uncomfortable with the fact that neither of us were saying anything that I just kinda, well, got out of the car.

"You have a good night's sleep," he told me with a gentle smile as I did this.

I suddenly felt shy. Like I had just gotten home from a date with Oliver, not Kyle. And… I was smiling about it. Like a date with Oliver wouldn't be a bad thing at all. Like I hadn't just lost a totally great boyfriend or anything. Maybe the movie popcorn was drugged or something.

"You too, Oliver," I said, shutting the car door slowly, kind of wishing that the night didn't have to end. I was sure to be crying as soon as I hit my bedroom, because without Oliver as a distraction, I would be sad again…

"Wait," Oliver suddenly jumped outside of his car, and I looked at him, puzzled. "Let me walk you to your door."

My heart skipped a beat. "You don't have to do that, Oliver—"

"Too bad."

It seemed like Oliver had grown braver, and he impatiently grabbed my hand to walk me to my front door. My body was limp and unsuspecting at the time, so his actions dragged me really close to his chest again.

And I realized he smelt good… and not just good… but really good.

I tried to ignore the blush warming my cheeks as he continued to walk me to my door, our hands still entwined. It was confusing how he was acting like holding my hand was a normal thing. But then again… Lilly had said he was in love with me…

"Cologne? You wear cologne?" I questioned aloud in disbelief.

"I always have, Miley," he replied, a somewhat of an arrogant smile tracing his lips.

Then how come I hadn't noticed until now? I wondered.

"You likey?" he continued, wiggling his eyebrows at me… like… almost… flirtatiously. I swear. Oliver was flirting with me?!

"Um," my mouth got dry a little, probably from shock. "I… 'likey'."

What the?! I didn't mean to say it! But at least I wasn't lying; he does smell pretty—oh my God. What is going on?! I'm having friend behavior issues!

"Good," he grinned wider as we came to my house's entrance. He had let go of my hand immediately as soon as we walked onto the porch. And my happiness like, disappeared or something… 'cause it made me feel sad again.

"Oh no, you're not gonna cry again, are you!?" Oliver asked in concern, and I realized I must've been frowning pretty obviously at the removal of his hand.

"No!" I shouted, face burning. "No, I'm fine. But, thanks for walking me to my door. I, er, I have to get inside now. I can't miss the… golfing… match."

I couldn't believe what I had just said, and judging by Oliver's expression, neither had he.

"NIGHT OLIVER!" I yelled (oh my God, I'm an idiot) and practically vanished inside, leaving him out there.

I think I probably ran to my window in my room faster than Michael Phelps can swim, and then caught him still standing there on my front porch. What? He looked like he was debating something, and he raised a fist to knock again, and then stopped, sighing.

Oh no, you better not come in, mister, I thought. I'm in too weird of a condition right now.

I watched him curiously, hoping he'd just turn around and leave. Very suddenly his gaze went right to mine, and I ducked immediately. Great, he'd seen me looking at him. And I was supposed to be watching a golfing match… at night… where it didn't make sense at all… killllll meeee….

I let thirty seconds pass before I cautiously raised myself back to the window and breathed a sigh of relief. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Mind if I watch golfing with you?"

His voice made me jump a mile. How Oliver had gotten in so quickly startled me, but I had no time to think about it for he was then standing in the doorframe of my room, smiling sincerely at me.

I felt like throwing up my heart if that makes any sense. And my knees went wobbly again. And not cause I was upset. This was a weird, weird feeling.

"Um, not at all," I answered him unsurely.

My TV was not on, so in a state of panic and embarrassment, I reached for the remote and pressed 'power'. I prayed that some golfing re-run match was on somewhere.

Luckily, Tiger Woods appeared on the screen, and I stopped my channel flipping, nervously watching as Oliver settled himself comfortably on my bed, where I hesitantly sat myself down next to him.

We barely said a word to each other for the rest of the evening, but somehow, despite every bad thing that had happened, I somehow thought it was one of the best nights of my entire life.


YAAAAAAAY! I hope you liked the fluff I included here. It was cute to write. Tehehe. Anyways, review! Only four more chapters left!

And don't you DARE think for a second I've forgotten about the TeenzWeek tabloid… it'll come into play… just you wait and see. ;)