A/N: Greyiron-93 here. (Liz: She thinks she did a bad job with this chapter, but she really didn't!)

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As I slowly moved my hand away, she shuffled to the side a little, leaving room for me to lie next to her, which I quickly did. We both lay, facing the ceiling. It was easy to just get... lost; I was thinking, lost in my thoughts, lost in the moment.

I know it sounds weird, and maybe you won't understand, but it was just like...nothing else existed. I don't know how to explain it, but I just felt happy, like I was in my own little world. Population: Miley and me.

"What made you want to be there for me yesterday?" she asked, turning her head. I could feel her looking at me, but I didn't wanna look back, our faces would be way too close for comfort... but I turned my head to look at her, and as expected, our noses were inches apart.

"I know what it's like... I figured you'd need someone," I answered, trying to keep my eyes focused on hers. I was never good with eye contact, ever. After my mom died I just didn't like to see people's true thoughts about me, because you can always see that through their eyes. After I spoke and managed to maintain the eye contact, I looked back to the ceiling.

"Your mom died?" she asked, and turned her head to face the top of her bedroom.

"Yeah," I answered simply, sighing afterwards. "She got stomped on by an elephant."

I heard her hold back a laugh, and I couldn't help but turn to her and do the same, "Why does everyone always do that when I tell them?" I managed through my laugh, seeing her breaking bit by bit and allowing her laugh to become more apparent.

"I'm sure it was a traumatic experience," she continued to laugh, turning to me, "But stomped on by an Elephant..."

I laughed, realizing that if I wanted someone to take it seriously I had to think of another way of saying it. There was an accident at the zoo... no, that wouldn't work either. A freak accident... that would work, plus it would be incredibly true.

I turned my attention back to her, having looked away to commence my laugh earlier.

"You're being really strong," I managed to say, her turning to me now and becoming serious again. In our own little world I felt safe to open up, to speak my mind. It was easier in here, with her. "I mean, when my mom died I shut off for... well, forever. Until now..."

She smiled widely, and was concentrating fully on my eyes; I was doing the same back. "What made you open up?"

"This place," I smiled, looking away for a brief moment and throwing my hands in the air, "I mean, the Okens' are amazing, they're just always happy, and they forgive you for anything if you really mean it. And Oliver's like my brother, I always wanted a brother or sister before the accident, and now I think I finally have one. It's like I have a family, y'know?"

I looked back to her, and she was again smiling, but seemed a little disappointed. I think I knew why... so I continued with what I had planned to say. "And I met this one person who's like... the kindest person I've ever met, and weirdly enough, she likes spending time with me, and even talked to me after I completely overreacted about something she opened up to me about," I smiled, seeing the look on her face immediately improve, "I believe her name's Miley... and I believe I owe her an apology."

She quickly shook her head, "You don't; you did everything you needed to, yesterday."

I looked at the sincerity in her eye; it was captivating. Her eyes were easy to get lost in, to just look at for hours. "No… I didn't," I finally said, softly. I raised my head off of the bed, and moved my body so that it was facing sideways. Her eyes stayed fixated on my eyes through it all, I think she was trying to figure me out.

She really shouldn't... it would take a while.

I leaned forward, still staring into her gradually closing eyes. When her eyes had finally closed, I began closing mine. At the feel of her breath on my face, I jolted back, opening my eyes and looking a little surprised.

She stayed with her eyes closed for a second, before opening her eyes and looking on at me, her face full of confusion.


"I'm sorry, I um..." I took a moment to cough away the lump at the back of my throat, before continuing.

She began shifting herself up now, finally getting into a seated position. "I understand if you don't want to..." she began, trailing off and figuring I knew what was coming.

I did, but that wasn't what confused me. It was... embarrassing.

I took a breath. I no longer felt like we were in our little world, we were back in the real world, back on planet earth, and I didn't like it. She opened up to me, though, so I should open up to her, right? Besides, it's not that big a deal.

"I've never kissed anyone. I've never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend or anything," I blurted out, looking away.

Again, yes, you may think I'm overreacting, but I wasn't. It's not like I never wanted to be with someone, but I found it impossible, I found it pointless to try when I would be moving away anyways. I always felt it was something I missed out on. Sure I missed out on having a family, but that was taken away from me, this was something I could get...but was afraid of. I wasn't one for admitting being afraid of something.

"What's the big deal?" I finally heard her ask.

I hesitantly looked back to her, and she was looking slightly confused yet amused.

"See, you find it funny!" I whined, pulling my legs towards my chest.

"No," she laughed. She can be so reassuring when she wants to be. "I was laughing at the way you said it, like it was a huge deal."

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, trying to keep my defensive look, "It's not?"

"No," she smiled, "It's not like I've had that much experience either. You can't anyway, not in this town. It'll be tabloid news the next day if you did," she laughed.

I smiled, feeling better, and loosened up a little. I guess I was overreacting, but like I said, I was not a very easy person to work out.

My mind works in strange ways.

She was just sitting there, looking back at me. She seemed a little unsure herself, but she still had a large and sincere smile on her face. She didn't have any intentions of moving, that was clear. She was waiting to see what I wanted, what I was going to do. To be honest, I was waiting to see what I wanted or what I wanted to do.

"You were gonna... kiss me then right? I mean, I didn't imagine that?" she finally asked in a cautious and confused tone.

"I…" I'd answer, but even I didn't know. I don't even remember getting to that position, it just... happened. Hence the shock when I found my face inches away from hers. "I don't know," I finally answered.

I looked up, seeing her scrunched features looking back at me, "You don't know?"

"I mean... it seemed that way, right?"

"Um... kinda," she quipped, still looking on at me.

"I'm sorry, it's just... this is new to me and I really don't know what I was doing or what I want right now and I think I should just go," I said quickly, taking a well deserved deep breath afterwards and getting promptly to my feet.

"Lilly..." she said in a pleading tone as she got up off of the bed. She didn't add any more, so I figured she had something to say. I turned around cautiously and looked at her.

"I was scared once too..." she stated simply, flashing a sympathetic smile my way afterwards.

I looked away, at the floor, and mumbled a goodbye before heading out of the door.

It wasn't too late, and I knew my way back to the Okens' by now. I did pass the ranch every day coming home from school anyways, when Oliver would drop by.

I took the walk home a little slower this time. The usually occupied streets were virtually silent as the sun began to fade, and the cold air was creeping its way into the atmosphere. I was trying to think my way through what had happened, break it down, and figure it out. The bottom line was I couldn't.

Nothing made sense. I usually had control of myself, I would never let myself get into a stupid position like that before, but now I was acting so vulnerable. I didn't like it, the feeling of being put out there and laid bare for someone to see. But that someone was Miley, so that changed things. I wanted her to know about me, I needed her to know about me.

I needed her.

So that meant I liked her, right? Well, with me things like this are never that easy. They'll probably be a few more awkward silences between us, and a few more uncomfortable conversations before I anywhere near understand this.

Finally reaching the Okens', I made my way quickly to the door. Opening it I was greeted with Maria and Daniel sat beside one another and Oliver sat on the couch next to them.

"Hey," Maria smiled as I walked through the door.

I grunted and sat beside Oliver, pretending to be interested on what was on TV to avoid the reality of three pairs of eyes burning holes through me.

"What?" I finally sighed, turning my head in their direction.

"Nothing," Dan said nonchalantly, looking back to the screen, his actions soon being mirrored by his wife.

Oliver, however, grinned at me like a five year old on Christmas morning. "What?" I asked again, this time with my eyebrows raised and staring right at him.

"Oh nothing..." he simply said with a smirk, turning back to the screen.

I did the same with a large sigh. "Have a good time with Miley?" he whispered, still looking at the screen.

"I guess... why wouldn't I?" I raised a suspicious eyebrow, staring at him as he continued to focus away from me.

"Just wondering how my friends are doing, showing an interest."

I looked to the screen, trying to act uninterested, but I quickly shot my head back, "What are you smirking at?!" I whined. What can I say? When it comes to someone saying something about me, I'm curious.

"Nothing, just calm down," he laughed, turning to me now.

Maria and Daniel had glanced over for a second, but looked away after realizing it didn't concern them. They were still hearing everything and listening with much interest, no doubt.

"What happened?" he whispered more now, him too realizing his parents' attitude.

"What d'ya mean?"

"I mean, when I left you, you were all smiles, and now you're... not."

I shrugged, "Didn't notice." I looked away quickly, but I could still hear him snicker a little.

"Fine, I'm sure I'll hear about it eventually."

I rolled my eyes and slouched further into my seat. I too, was sure he would find out soon enough. If not from me then from Miley, they had been friends for a long time after all. But what I didn't know was what exactly would he find out? What actually happened?

We never did anything, I never really said anything, but something had become clearer in my mind. There was something about Miley, something I liked... something I really liked. I didn't know what it was, but I had every intention of finding out.