Title: Sela Stella
Rating: T
Disclaimer: No affiliation with Disney or its associates.
A/N: I'm sincerely sorry for taking so long to update, with any luck I wrote a good lengthy chapter that was worth the wait. It was originally going to be two chapters but I combined them to reward you for your patience in my updates, please review!
Chapter 10: Stellanagle!
"That's two for two," Lilly whispered breathlessly, still in awe of the kiss that lingered on her tingling lips and the chances both her best friends were superstars in disguise.
"Two what?" Scarlett asked quizzically, drawing back from Lilly to look her full in the face.
"Uh two – to be or not to be!" Lilly proclaimed and made wild gestures with her arms but to no avail, Scarlett cocked her head at the silly girl and waited for the truth.
"Scarlett, you're not the only one with a secret identity," Lilly nervously began, avoiding looking into Scarlett's fierce stare.
"Let me guess, you're really a foreign princess and you're engaged to a handsome prince. But first you are to be locked in the tallest tower of a castle surrounded by a moat that will be guarded by the most fearsome monster so that the prince can prove his love by rescuing you from –," Scarlett had sat down on the bed and started daydreaming.
"Scarlett," Lilly abruptly interrupted the girl's tangent.
"Sorry, you know I love adding a few theatrics," Scarlett apologized to the impatient Lilly and made the motion of zipping her lips shut to convince Lilly she was ready to listen.
"Too much I think. I was going to say I'm actually Lola Luftnagle," Lilly looked up at Scarlett whose mouth had dropped open.
"Then it was you at the album release party! I knew you seemed familiar – beyond any magazine. And that time when we were first talking about Hannah, outside that clothing store and I had that one magazine, I knew it!" Scarlett shouted, raising her fists in the air triumphantly. Lilly just shrugged in admission of Scarlett's intuition, it was true.
"So if you're Lola, then you know Hannah. Does she know your secret?"
"No we met at a party, she knows me as Lola," Lilly told Scarlett, retting that it was only a half-truth but knowing she could never betray her best friend who has fought so hard to keep her Hannah Montana identity a secret.
"This is great!" Scarlett exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and wrapping up Lilly in a strong embrace.
"Are you talking about us dating or am I missing something?"
"No, that Hannah doesn't know who you are, because now not only can you and I date, Sela and Lola can date too!"
"I thought Selena was really Sela, why would she want to date me?"
"True, Selena is the real Sela Stella, but she's been sidelined by the record company because her voice has been getting scratchy recently and they're afraid she might get an infection from not letting her throat heal properly after getting her tonsils removed. So in the mean time, just for a few weeks, I'm moonlighting as Sela Stella, and rather than be away from you every night, you can be with me, only as Lola Luftnagle."
"This is going to get really interesting," Lilly said but gave it no more thought as she was whisked away to another world by the sensation of Scarlett's lips pressed against her own.
"This is beyond great, this is sublime, stupendous! Lesbian couple! Good going Sela!"
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Sarcastic? Heavens no, lesbians are very marketable right now, this is good. Gay is trendy, very present in society, all those TV shows, like The L Word, all those hot woman having sex with each other? Can't get much better than that. And Ellen, you can have a coming out party on Ellen! Fantastic, hey Jerry call Ellen's people; tell her Sela Stella will give Ellen her coming out story on the show ASAP. This can't get any better; well yes it can, considering this will give you a leg up on Hannah Montana, that girl is straighter than a ruler, how droll," Sela Stella's agent, Tony, said all this in the space of about 10 seconds and had pulled out his Blackberry to schedule in an Ellen appearance.
"Why is everything a competition with Hannah Montana? I think she's great, and if you're so interested in being marketable you should think about a duet with her, it'd be fun –," Scarlett, dressed as Sela Stella, suggested optimistically.
"Fun? Fun? No, no, no, Hannah Montana is not fun, she's history! If you want to be number one, and believe me you do, you have to get rid of the current number one, AKA Hannah Montana," corrected Tony with his signature greedy grin.
"Scarlett Jones you are so dead! I cannot believe you took my career and put it on a float in the gay parade!" Selena burst through the conference room doors ready to kill.
"Gay parade! That's excellent publicity! Jerry find out when the next pride parade is and then schedule a Sela Stella appearance, and get that girl of hers, what was it? Laura? Linda?"
"It's Lola, her name is Lola Luftnagle!" Scarlett furiously corrected him; suddenly she doubted her original plan.
"As in Hannah's best jet-setting friend? You mean you took Lola from Hannah? Sweet! Double points for Sela Stella!" Jennifer, Sela Stella's hairdresser, tried to high-five Scarlett but Scarlett just gave her a disgusted look and turned away.
"Wow Selena, Scarlett makes a better Sela Stella than you," Tony joked, nudging her in the shoulder with a laugh.
"You want it so bad? Take it, it's all yours, congrats Scarlett you've got Sela Stella, just like you got mom and dad," Selena said to her sister and stormed out of the room.
A resounding silence permeated the conference room.
"So how bout next Tuesday for Ellen?" Tony flashed his mischievous smile at the stunned Scarlett.
The crowd chanted over and over 'Sela! Sela! Sela!' The noise only grew louder as the band started playing the intro and the dancers bounded on stage, ready to rock the night. The only one not feeling it was the star of the show.
"This was a really bad idea, I never should have come out as Sela with Lola, then Selena would be here getting ready to perform. Hasn't anyone been able to contact her? I have a bad feeling about this."
"If you need to throw up there's a wastebasket in the corner," Neil, the stage manager, kindly reminded her.
"No not that kind of bad feeling," Scarlett told him.
"Isn't there a way to cancel the concert so we can go looking for Selena? And maybe have a press conference explaining that Sela Stella isn't gay?" Scarlett asked hopefully.
"Too late for that, the cat's out of the bag!" Tony slapped her on the back and pulled out his phone to text associates.
"Yep and Sela Stella is needed on stage, so move it!" Neil yelled over the roar of the crowd.
"But I can't sing like her!" Scarlett protested as the stage manager and a few assistants helped lead her to the trap door entrance.
"Well you better learn quick, you're on in 30 seconds!" retorted Neil with an unsympathetic grin. With that he shoved a reluctant Sela Stella into place and the show officially started.
"They really need to work on their celebrity couple names," Oliver remarked as he flipped through the Style section of that day's newspaper.
"What are you talking about?" Miley asked him, munching on a crispy apple.
"You might want to sit down, or at least swallow before I tell you. I don't know the Heimlich maneuver," Oliver replied, waiting till Miley finished her bite and had leaned against a wall next to water fountain. He gave Miley a fearful glance and cleared his throat, "Ahem, introducing the newest celebrity couple: Stellanagle!"
Oliver glanced down again at the newspaper before holding it up before Miley's disbelieving eyes. She was met with concrete proof though, there was a photo of Sela Stella and Lola Luftnagle, their arms around one another and the headline that proclaimed their not-so-clever celebrity name printed in bold underneath. Miley first dropped the apple from her grasp and then met it on the way down, feeling her knees go weak she collapsed to the floor, after hitting her head on the side of the water fountain.
"Yeah, you definitely should have sat down," Oliver commented and reached a hand out to help Miley up.
Miley slapped his flimsy hand away and moaned in discomfort, feeling the throbbing pain in her forehead.
"Girls, always drama queens," Oliver quipped and managed to lift Miley to her feet though the girl was still dazed and a little out of it.
"Lola is with Sela Stella? But she – we – sweet niblets I hate that girl," Miley muttered angrily.
"It's not Sela's fault that you didn't bother to do anything, actions speak louder than words Miley," Oliver reprimanded his friend.
"What do you mean I didn't bother to do anything?" Miley barked out at the innocent Oliver.
"You're in love with Lilly, everyone can see it but you didn't bother to do anything about it. Someone else took the initiative and now you're jealous. My advice, do something about it this time." Oliver looked at her with disdain. Miley didn't say a word, just glared at him, wishing she could strangle Sela. Oliver shouldered his backpack and walked away.
Afterschool Lilly and Scarlett were sitting on the chairs at Rico's, positioned so they had their hands entwined and knees touching, chatting with Jackson.
"You two are dating? Seriously?" Jackson asked in disbelief, yet again his chances with a girl had gone down the drain.
"Yep!" the girls replied in unison and smiled at one another.
Jackson glanced between the two, still skeptical, "prove it."
"Your wish is my command," Scarlett said and leaned in to kiss an awaiting Lilly.
Miley felt her heart shatter as she witnessed their prolonged kiss and their matching loving smiles. Everything fell into place, her suspicions were correct, Scarlett was Sela Stella, though that didn't explain the concert but she could wait to get that story straight, right now it was about getting Lilly, and Lola, back. Just like Oliver said, actions speak louder than words, she couldn't sit back and watch as she lost Lilly forever, it was now or never. She steeled herself and marched down the boardwalk up to Rico's stand.
"Lilly choose right now, it's me or her!"
"What are you talking about Miley?" Lilly asked startled. She got off her stool to confront Miley, feeling a little wary of her visibly angry friend. She was bewildered by Miley's strange behavior.
"Miley –" Scarlett got off her stool to try and intervene, she had a strong feeling she knew exactly what was going on.
"Don't you dare, don't you dare talk to me," Miley threatened, her fists shaking with fury.
"Miley, what is going on with you?" Lilly pleaded with Miley to give an explanation, "you're one of my best friends, tell me what is wrong?"
"Friend? Friend! I'm your friend?" Miley sputtered out as hot burning tears burst from her eyes. Scarlett bit her lip, she knew it: Miley had also fallen in love with Lilly.
"Yes of course you are Miley! We'll always be friends!" Lilly tried to comfort Miley but was clueless as to how badly she was hurting Miley with her words.
"Lillian Rose Truscott, I wish I had never met you!"
"Miley, wait –" Lilly helplessly stretched out a hand to grab the traumatized girl but for once in her life Miley possessed some agility, dodged Lilly, and sprinted down the beach, leaving the two girls in an awkward silence.
Miley dashed down the beach, wet sand flying into the air in her wake, she bulldozed a kid's ramshackle sandcastle, knocked over a guy with a metal detector, and almost trampled over a cluster of teenagers sunbathing by the water's edge. She stumbled up driveway to her house and yanked the door open, feeling sweet relief to have reached her haven.
"Hey Bud, how's it – what happened?" Robby Ray asked concerned, noticing the shiny tears marking his daughter's face.
"I don't want to talk about it." Miley snapped and slammed the front door shut behind her.
"Whoa there, someone isn't having a very good day. Is it that time?" Jackson commented in a whiny voice. He gave Miley a sarcastically sad eyed look as he entered through the kitchen door and dropped his keys on the table.
"No it's not that time! It'll never be my time because I lost my stupid chance to stupid Scarlett and it's not fair!" Miley yelled at her annoying brother. Jackson ducked behind the kitchen counter as Miley chucked a pillow in his direction. The pillow knocked over a bowl of spaghetti which landed on Jackson.
"I guess dinner's on me," Jackson quipped, popping his head back up from behind the counter, and wiped some tomato sauce off his forehead.
"Not that I don't love to see such loving displays of sibling affection, but do you want to tell me what's going on?"
"No! It's none of your business, just leave me alone!" Miley shouted at both of her family members, frustrated with their attitude and overwhelmed with emotion.
Miley rushed up the stairs to her bedroom and retreated to her Hannah Montana closet, locking both the bedroom and closet doors behind her, she needed to be alone.
Miley made it to the center of her expansive closet before collapsing to her knees; she stared up at the ceiling of the closet wishing some greater wisdom would come to her that could tell her how to make this pain go away. She moaned and buried her face in her shaking hands, feeling everything come apart inside her.
She clenched her hands into fists and pressed down hard on the soft carpeted floor. The upset girl rocked back and forth, balancing on the heels of her feet, feeling something terrible bubble up from deep inside her.
"LILLY!"
Miley blindly lashed out at her surroundings, possessed by an anger she had never known. The hysterical girl knocked over the countless purses and shoes that lined the shelves, carelessly trudging over the floor littered with her priceless collection of accessories. She felt absolutely worthless.
She caught sight of a photo hanging prominently on her wall adjacent to the shelves of shoes and purses; it was an old snapshot, of a smiling Miley and laughing Lilly.
Her hands quivered as she delicately clasped the photograph, her eyes roaming over Lilly's petite face and whimsical smirk, the two girls were positively beaming with happiness.
The chances she'd fall in love with her best friend who had already fallen in love with her best friend were one in a million, hell, one in a billion. And fate, or karma, or some universal higher power had rolled the dice and this time they weren't in Miley's favor.
She left her decimated closet and trudged into her bedroom, she spent some time searching but managed to find her treasured photo album full of pictures of her and Lilly.
Miley's breath caught in her throat when she reached the photo she had been savoring. It was a photo of Lilly standing in front of her house in a dress, taken for the school dance where she was stood up by Matt.
"Stupid boys mess up everything," Miley snarled, thinking of Scarlett she added, "And so do stupid girls."
Miley traced her fingers over the photo, wishing the girl in the photo would suddenly appear so she could trace her fingers over the soft skin of Lilly's cheeks instead, and kiss the plump lips, and stare forever into those innocent eyes. She whispered to the photo, "You're absolutely beautiful, and it's killing me."
A/N: Aw poor Miley, life is tough, but it will get better…maybe.