Author's Note: After getting over the shock of updating way earlier than I usually do, I hope that you like this! Everything's going to be much more interesting from this point on.

Oh, and I was going to put a whole Miley-conscience thing in this chapter, but I hate reading those (random, but...well...eh.).

Chapter 10

What in the world was I thinking when I started going out with that pig all those years ago?

That was the first thing I thought when I woke up early the next day. I rubbed my eyes, yawned loudly, and grudgingly got out of bed. I barely got any sleep the night before because the only things I thought of were how much I hated Jake Ryan and how much I thought of Jake Ryan. Seriously, the boy is in my thoughts almost all the time---good and bad…as in evil, not naughty.

I dragged my feet towards the bathroom and it took me a whole minute just to walk there because all of my energy was drained from attempting to put my body to sleep. I brushed my teeth and washed my face, which took me about ten minutes to do. Feeling a little more refreshed, I walked to the kitchen and poured myself a cup of coffee. I got some milk and cereal and sat in front of the TV. I put my feet up on the coffee table, feeling much more relaxed than a while ago. I took a sip of my coffee and then I stopped mid-sip.

I didn't make coffee this morning.

I looked around and then I jumped when I saw Miranda coming out of the guest bedroom. She smiled at me and sat next to me, bouncing up and down.

"So how was yesterday's shoot?" she asked casually and took a sip of my coffee.

"How did you get in here?" I asked.

"Through the door." I smacked her lightly with a pillow.

"No, seriously. I don't remember giving you a key…" I trailed off.

"Oh, I know. You asked me to get something from here when you were out doing errands so you told me to get the spare key in your office," she said with a shrug and began eating my cereal.

"So that's where that key went…" I said. "Hey! Get your own cereal!"

"Sorry," she said and put down the empty bowl. I crossed my arms with a huff, realizing that this wasn't going to be the relaxing day I planned for.

"So, what are you going to wear tonight?" Miranda asked.

"What? What are you talking about?" I asked, confused.

"Your date with Jake Ryan, duh."

"Creepy girl, say what?" I asked in disbelief.

"Don't worry, Miley," Miranda smiled creepily. "I'll help you get ready," she said and flipped the channel to watch Animal Planet.

"Wow, Miley. Jake Ryan is going to finally realize what he has been missing these past couple of years," Miranda whistled. I rolled my eyes at her, while she just smiled at me. She covered my eyes, turned me around, and took her hands away and I was impressed with what I saw. Jake never said where he was taking us out (by us, I meant Jake, Shirley, and me. I forgot that she was supposed to be coming with us too), but knowing Shirley, she would want to eat at an expensive restaurant. I wore a simple and loose black dress with black sequins at the top, which ended right above my knee. For contrast, I wore comfortable red peep-toe pumps and a red necklace with simple earrings. I twirled around, loving the feeling of my dress brushing against my bare legs. My naturally wavy hair was curled a little to add some volume. I peered closer in the mirror and saw that Miranda didn't put too much make-up, much to my relief, because I didn't like looking fake and I would never change my looks to impress anybody…not that I was planning to impress anybody in the first place.

"Thanks, Millie! I look…different, but in a good way," I complimented myself.

Ding dong!

"That must be him," I squealed excitedly.

"I mean…uh, that must be him," I said in an attempt to sound annoyed. Miranda just rolled her eyes at me and threw my purse at me. She ran out of my room and answered the door.

"Hey, Jake! Come on in, she's just…uh, waxing her toes," she said quickly and ran back in the room.

"He's here!" she whispered loudly.

"Waxing my toes?" I asked her with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah…well…go get 'em, tiger!" she said and pushed me out the door. I turned towards the door and banged on it, grumbling on how immature she was.

"Wow, Miley. You look…great." I turned around to see Jake standing up from my couch with a single red rose in his hand. He was wearing a black blazer and red dress shirt. I laughed softly, noticing how our outfits matched. The room seemed smaller and I could hear my heart pounding through my chest. We walked towards each other, with each step felt like weight was being lifted off when we got closer.

"Jake Ryan, were you watching me change?" I asked.

"Miley Stewart, did you just flirt with me?" Jake laughed and handed me the rose. I just shook my head laughing and smelled the rose.

"It's just a coincidence that our clothes match," I said, pointing to our outfits. Jake laughed and I noticed something different.

"Where's Shirley?" I asked, trying my best not to sound angry.

"Her manager called her after the photoshoot that she had to fly back to New York to sign some papers for her new modeling thing or whatever," he sighed.

"Can we…not talk about Shirley? I mean, I'm kind of glad that she's not here because I have been wanting to spend some time with one of my friends for a while," he said shyly.

"Jake," I gasped. "I didn't know that Amber and Ashley were going to eat with us," I sighed, pretending to sound sad and disappointed.

"Very funny, Miles," he said sarcastically. I immediately smiled when he called me by my childhood nickname.

"Miles?" I asked and he just smiled and stared at me. After that, it was silent and we just stood there staring at each other.

Right before things were starting to get awkward, Miranda burst from my bedroom and Jake and I jumped in surprise.

"Oh!" Miranda exclaimed and stared at us with wide eyes.

"I thought that you left," she said. I shook my head and gave her a look, which made her eyes widen even more in surprise.

"Uh, sorry. I was just about to leave. I guess I got too caught up in your closet, Miley. Sorry about that," she said sheepishly.

"It's okay. We were just about to leave too. Ready, Jake?" I asked and tugged on his arm towards the door. I smelled his faint cologne and my knees almost buckled because he smelt so good.

"I'm ready. Nice to see you, Miranda," he waved and put his hand on the small of my back, leading me towards the door.

"Have fun, you guys. But not too much fun because that would be just wrong and---"

"We get it, Miranda. Bye!" I yelled quickly and closed the door, muffling her words. My cheeks burned in embarrassment as we were walking towards Jake's car as I thought about what Miranda was suggesting on what we shouldn't be doing. It's not like I'll ever go that far with a guy, especially an engaged man, for crying out loud.

"So where are we going?" I asked, breaking the awkward silence when he started to drive.

"We are going to this restaurant called Laudare, which means to praise in Latin," he said.

"Oh, really? Looks like someone's been doing a little research," I teased, quickly glancing at him.

"Just for you, Miley," he laughed and my heart skipped a beat. Jake turned right and parked in the beach parking lot. He got out of the car first and opened my door.

"Madam," he said and held out his hand. I put my small hand in his and let him pull me out of the car.

"Why, thank you," I gushed and he didn't let go of my hand. We walked out of the parking lot and onto the sidewalk. We were completely content not saying a word to each other and I felt as if I was a teenager again. I squeezed his hand and he suddenly pulled away.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I shouldn't have done that."

"It's okay," I said quietly. From that point on, we just started talking about random things until he gently grabbed my elbow and pointed straight ahead. There was a small restaurant at the end of the street with a big yellow sign that said Laudare in a fancy font. I squealed excitedly because it looked so cute: it looked like a small European house that seemed to stretch when you go inside (as I could see from the windows). When we got inside, Jake said his name and the waiter looked at the both of us with an eyebrow raised.

"Friends," I said to him quickly. I glanced at Jake worriedly. What if someone thinks that we are actually on a real date and that Jake is cheating with Shirley behind her back? If the press gets this…then everything will be ruined. Luckily, the waiter seemed to buy this and lead us inside. We got some looks from people, but Jake just kept on walking as if it was a normal thing.

Once we sat down in the U-shaped booth, Jake asked for some champagne and the waiter left us.

When he came back about two minutes later, Jake popped out the cork and poured some into each of our glasses.

"So," he sighed happily, tilting his glass in the air. "I propose a toast. A toast to rekindling our new and improved relationship."

"What are we? Laundry detergent?" I teased playfully and he just smirked.

"Well, we are clean…and we smell good," he said and I giggled.

I noticed how he said relationship and not friendship.

Ah, what am I thinking? I shook my head and smiled at him.

"To you, Mr. Ryan," I said, holding my glass up.

"No, you, Ms. Stewart," he said. We clinked our glasses together and took a sip. Right when we both finished our first glass, the waiter came by and asked if we were ready to order. Jake told me that the servings here were big, so we decided to share spaghetti and salad. When he left, we started talking. I told him almost everything that had happened since we went our separate ways for college. He told me all about his experiences in the movie-making business and I was fascinated by all of the work that had to be done and how precise every single detail has to be, even if it's just a spec of dust on a prop. He laughed at my embarrassing stories, while I laughed at the pranks that his friends in the cast did to him. We talked about what's been going on with our families and we even talked about the good times in our relationship. All in all, I was surprisingly enjoying myself and I could see that he was having fun as well.

"So then he said, 'No, I'm a Taurus.'" Jake said and I almost cried because I was laughing so hard.

"That…is…hilarious!" I managed to choke out between giggles, while Jake just shook his head at me with a playful smile on his lips.

"Don't you justlove this bread? I swear, out of all of the free bread that all the restaurants give, this is seriously the best," I said randomly, putting a ton of butter onto the bread. Jake just gave me a look and helped himself to some.

"Yummy…" I took a bite and closed my eyes, relishing the flavor. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jake laughing silently.

"What?" I asked, putting the bread down.

"You have a butter on your lip," he said with twinkling eyes. I brushed my hand against my lips, not feeling embarrassed at all.

"Is it all gone?" I asked.

"No. Here." Jake reached out and brushed his thumb gently over my lip and wiped the butter off, which made my lips tingle in excitement. He looked into my eyes for a minute and then he looked back down to my lips. He cupped my cheek gently and began rubbing his thumb against it, making small circular motions. He looked at me curiously and then leaned forward. I closed my eyes and my heart was beating so fast that I was afraid that it was going to jump out of my ribcage. The closer he got, the more excited I became. We were only a few centimeters apart…

"I still can't believe that you managed to get reservations here!" We heard a woman practically shout and we sprung away from each other quickly. I scooted a little from Jake and I desperately wanted to fan myself because the room was really warm. I glanced at Jake, who was fumbling with his fingers and was looking at anything except me.

"First Hawaii, now this. Who knew that you could be so romantic?" The woman sighed happily. Her voice got louder as they were approaching our table. She sounded very familiar…

"Well, the honeymoon isn't exactly over, you know," a man said. I widened my eyes and jumped out of the booth.

"Lilly? Oliver? Is that you?!" I practically shouted, completely forgetting about what almost happened earlier. A blonde woman turned in my direction and we both squealed running towards each other. I hugged my best friend tightly and jumped up and down, earning glares and mutters from the people around us, but I didn't care. I haven't seen my best friends in weeks and I'm just so happy that they are here.

"It's good to see you too, Miley," the man said sarcastically. I laughed and let go of Lilly to hug my other best friend.

"So are you sick of Lilly yet?" I teased Oliver, who chuckled in response.

"Only a little, but hey, I survived," he said.

"Alright, talk as if I'm not here," Lilly said sarcastically. Oliver and I laughed and we both turned towards Lilly.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought that you were supposed to be coming back next week? Lilly, you promised that you would call the moment you set your size seven foot into Malibu," I pointed my finger at her like a mom scolding her child.

"Sorry I didn't call. We were watching TV in our hotel and they said that there was going to be an extremely windy for the next couple of days. I don't know about you, but I don't want sand in my eyes every time I go outside. Oh, and we were planning on visiting you tomorrow morning when you're at work as a surprise, but I guess that'll never work," Lilly said and I just nodded, not exactly caring why they were here earlier than expected. I was just so happy to see them, I felt like crying.

"What are you doing here?" Oliver asked.

"Are you out on a date?" Lilly whispered excitedly, tugging on my arm. Oliver stepped in front of Lilly and looked at me in the eye.

"Who is it?" Oliver asked. I rolled my eyes at him because his protective older brother attitude took over.

"Don't worry, you guys. I'm not on a date. In fact---"

"Miley, are you okay? What's taking you so…long…?" Jake got out of the booth and stared at the three of us, speechless. We all stared at each other for five minutes; Jake, Lilly, and Oliver were completely speechless and I was waving my hands in front of their faces.

"Uh…surprise?" I said lamely.

"Jake?" Lilly asked in surprise.

"Since when did this happen?" Oliver asked, equally surprised.

"Yeah, Miley. Why didn't you tell me?" Lilly snapped out of her trance and looked at me angrily with her arms crossed.

"Yeah. Why didn't you tell us that you and ego-maniac here are back together?" Oliver asked and pointed between Jake and I.

"No, you guys. We're not together…and we never will be," I muttered the last part quietly to myself.

"It's nice to know that you've been talking about me as if I wasn't there," Jake said sarcastically and walked up to us. "Now I know how Lilly feels."

"Yeah!" Lilly said and walked over to Jake's side. After a couple of seconds, Lilly's eyes widened and she turned and hugged Jake tightly.

"Jake! I haven't seen or heard from you in forever!"

"Wow. Talk about a late reaction," I whispered to Oliver, who smiled and shook his head slightly. When Lilly let go of Jake, Oliver went up to him and they shook hands.

"What Lilly said, except without the girlish squealing," Oliver said and they both laughed.

"Let's sit down. You guys can eat with us," Jake offered.

"Are you sure? We don't want to interrupt anything," Lilly said hesitantly.

"No, you weren't interrupting anything," I said exaggeratedly. Jake coughed loudly and cleared his throat.

"It's no problem. Besides, I haven't talked to you guys in an extremely long time," Jake said. Lilly and Oliver thanked him and he led us back to our booth. Lilly sat next to my left, while Jake was sitting on my right and Oliver right next to him.

"First things first, are you two back together?" Oliver asked.

"No, we aren't. It's actually quite a long story," Jake said and gave out a long sigh.

"Don't worry, we have plenty of time," Oliver replied.

"The long version or the short version?" Miley asked.

"Long!"

"Short." Lilly and Oliver said at the same time.

"Lilly, I'm sure that Miley will tell you the long version someday," Oliver whispered to her and she nodded.

"Okay. Jake and Shirley Brewart---"

"Shirley Brewart?" Oliver gaped. "She is so hot! But she's not as beautiful as you, babe," he added in quickly when Lilly gave him a death glare. She seemed satisfied with his answer, and motioned for Miley to continue.

"Well anyways, Jake and Shirley Brewart are my new clients. Shirley's not here right now though because she had to fly to New York last night," Miley said.

"Wait a minute. You're engaged and you never even bothered telling us?" she asked Jake, looking offended.

"Sorry. I tried contacting you, but I figured that you wouldn't have the same cellphone numbers since high school," he joked.

"You mean that you're Jake and Shirley Brewart's wedding planner?" Lilly gaped, asking me.

"Yes," I said simply. Lilly and Oliver gave each other a look and then burst out laughing, much to Jake and my surprise.

"What's so funny?" Jake asked.

"Well…everything's funny! The entire situation is downright hilarious, actually," Lilly said between laughs.

"I don't get it," I said. What have these two been doing in Hawaii?

"Well," Oliver said, calming down slightly. "It's just that…we always thought that you would end up marrying Jake. It's just ironic how, out of all people, you are the one planning his wedding. I mean, the chances of that ever happening are one in a million, but I guess that you are that one in a million," Oliver said and Lilly's laughter died down. Jake and I glanced awkwardly at each other and then he quickly changed the subject to their honeymoon. I knew that what they said was the truth, but to hear it aloud made it seem more like reality.

When I was young, everyone thought that I was going to end up with Jake.

Hell, even I thought that I was going to end up with Jake.

I guess that is fate's twisted way of complicating my life.

Eventually, the earlier conversation was forgotten as we ate, talked, and joked as if nothing has changed between us since high school. Oliver ate most of the food, but for once we didn't mind because we still had a lot of food left over. Jake and Oliver were arguing over what were the best classic video games, while Lilly and I gossiped about what has been happening since she left, but I didn't want to give her more details because Jake might overhear us.

The next thing we knew, it was midnight and the employees were trying their best not to look pissed off at us. Jake paid for everything, despite our numerous attempts to try and take the bill from the waiter. We were outside saying our goodbyes to each other, which took about another half hour and then we all went our separate ways. Jake and I walked towards our car, while Lilly and Oliver waited for the valet to bring their car.

On the way back to my place, we didn't talk the entire time because we were both so tired and worn out from dinner. It's a good thing that Shirley wasn't here, or else she would have made dinner awkward and boring. Jake parked in front of my apartment and I was surprised that we made it back so quickly. Neither of us got up, so I turned towards Jake, who was already looking at me.

"Thanks, Jake, for everything," I said honestly.

"I had so much fun tonight, even though we were planning it for the two…uh, three of us. But it was a nice surprise, wasn't it?" I asked unsurely.

"Same here, but at least we had the chance to talk right before they came in," he replied and smiled shyly at me, which I returned. We both got out of the car and he walked me towards my apartment. When I got there, we just looked at each other awkwardly, not exactly knowing how to say goodbye.

"Do you want to come in? I mean, you must be tired, so you should at least rest a little before driving back to your hotel," I offered boldly.

"Thanks, that'd be great," he said. I took out my keys to unlock the door and we went inside. I closed the door behind me and smiled at my guest, who was lounging on the couch with his hands behind his head.

Author's Note: I already have part of the next chapter finished, so maybe there will be another update soon (no guarantees). Please review! Hopefully PenguinsRFunny didn't die from waiting for this to be updated. : )