Heyyyy... sorry for the delaaayyyy... It's gonna be okaaaayyy. Hahaha, wow, my rap's done, you can uncover your ears. :P

Anyways, yeah, I met Mitchel Musso. He's cuuuuuuuute. ;) That's all I'll bother you with when it comes to that.

SO, CHAPTER NINE! Get puuumped for it's a long one. My bad. I couldn't find a good stopping point. So hopefully the one I chose will suffice. :)

Disclaimer: On the bottom of the HM cast's feet, you can find my name tattooed there. I OWN THEM. O_O. Okay, just kidding, unless they all weirdly do, which would be a tad bit freaky...

HeartWare
by Broken Oken

chapter nine: the freak out fest

Classes wore on as Lilly's suspicion wore off. Homework grew to an immense kind of stressful, especially Chemistry. And this is going to sound crazy, but Richie still had yet to know I existed in his class. I was somehow always lucky enough for him to walk in and look right over me like I was just an empty desk, not a person at all. And then there's that chance that he could just be ignoring me. I can't decide on what I'd rather him do.

Oliver was always so annoying during class. I mean, this came as no surprise—he was in high school, too—but this was somehow… different. Almost like he was being annoying on purpose instead of his "accidental" douche-baggery in the past. Still, I had to be thankful for one class with someone I knew. I'm not sure if Oliver would have been my first choice; sure, he's my best friend, and I'll love the kid 'til the end of time, but… lately he keeps pissing me off more than normal. Way more than normal.

For example: I'll be sitting there, furiously taking notes like nobody's business, and he'll throw a freaking pencil at my head like we're in grade school or something. Fortunately we sit in the back, or else I'm sure Mrs. Plym would choke us both already even when I have nothing to do with it. I don't even try to respond with an angry look anymore. I simply pretend Oliver never did anything deserving of a slap across the face (though he totally does). It's funnier that way anyway because I think it frustrates him more, thus, I'm getting my revenge done and over with.

Anyway, one day in the middle of Chemistry, I felt something hit my cheek. Already knowing whom my assailant was, I growled lowly to myself until I heard Oliver's hoarse whisper of, "It's a note. Read it."

Resisting a roll of the eyes, I noticed the crumpled ball of notebook paper—the thing that hit me, of course—lying there on the floor. I bent downwards to get it, and when I looked up, Oliver's face was slightly red. I gave him a questioning glance, and I received the strangest chuckle for an answer, along with a gesture for me to just "read the note already".

I unfolded the note hastily; loving how already wound up I was when I still hadn't the slightest clue what the thing was even going to say.

'Richie was lookin at you a min ago.'

Frantically I looked to where Richie was sitting, but instead of his eyes, I was met with his back, currently turned towards the PowerPoint presentation Mrs. Plym was teaching, a.k.a. where I should be focusing my attention as well.

I wrote back a nasty response of 'nice try, now leave me alone,' and tossed it carelessly back onto Oliver's desk.

Seconds later I was angrily surprised to be hit by the same paper ball, and it landed yet again on the floor next to me. I shook my head in my growing frustration and yet again leaned myself over to retrieve it. Also yet again, I was met with Oliver's bizarrely blushing cheeks.

"What?" I hissed softly.

He looked a little embarrassed—almost like he had been caught in the act of doing something he shouldn't. Knowing Oliver well enough, I knew this probably had some kind of perverted explanation… and all it took for me to figure it out was for me to glance downwards and notice the low-cut shirt I was wearing.

I covered my cleavage instantly with a hand and pulled my shirt upwards, looking at Oliver completely appalled. He smirked, still blushing; nonetheless, before shrugging and nodding towards the note he'd thrown me. Honestly, this isn't middle school, Oliver, really…

Forgetting about the fact that my own best friend had been gaping at my chest, I turned back to the piece of paper.

'No he really was. He looked pretty happy too.'

My heart leapt into my throat. I was with Jake—my own freaking boyfriend—and I felt like the worst person in the world to be thinking cheerily that hottie Richie noticed me yet again. Well…. if he talks to me I'm just gonna have to tell him that I'm dating someone.

But I'll be sad to do it, shamefully enough.

My pencil scribbled a messy response, 'I don't care. I have Jake.'

Half lie.

And he knew it immediately because when he tossed the ball back, it had an unconvinced, 'Whatever you say,' written on it.

The boy knows how to push my buttons.

…juuust like I know how to push his.

'Like you have much room to talk, Mr. Not-Dating-Andrea-But-We're-All-Up-In-Each-Other's-Business-24/7.'

'I'm not dating her.' He sent a glare as I read it.

'Yes you are. Now leave me alone. Don't toss this back.'

And I must have annoyed him enough for him to actually listen to my request.

When Chemistry ended, Richie was very obviously taking an awfully long time to gather his things into his backpack. I wasn't stupid enough to not know that he was going to try to catch me on my way out to the hallway. He was waiting for me to walk by. And there was no way I could exit the room without doing so—unless I hopped over desks, which wouldn't look strange at all…

Nervously I collected my things as well, and probably just to further irritate me, Oliver watched with a roll of his dumb brown eyes.

"You're gonna drop them if you shake any harder," he said as he stood there next to my desk, waiting for me like he always did.

"I'm not shaking!" I threw back, though I knew he was right. My hand was quivering more obviously than Richie's little act in front of us.

"Right." Yeeeah, Oliver didn't believe me either. Without a word he began walking away from me before I was even ready, so I hurriedly jumped up, running after him in the aisle like a madwoman. He didn't even need to be facing me for me to know there was an arrogant, asshole-istic smirk on his face.

"Oliver! Wait up!" I called as he sped even faster. He was trying to make me get stuck with Richie by myself. I just knew it!

We were about to pass up the area where Richie was still residing, and I knew that if I didn't get next to Oliver soon, he was going to succeed in his plan to talk to me. And I did not want to deal with that. Not yet. So with as much adrenaline as I could possibly muster, I forced my legs to run faster than any time during high school gym class combined and suddenly found myself right next to my best friend.

And oddly enough, I grabbed one of his hands.

Oliver turned to me immediately at this weird gesture, looking wildly puzzled.

"Shut up, go with it!" I yelled at him—though I myself didn't know what I was doing—and I gripped his hand tighter as I dragged him out the door. I could totally feel Richie's eyes burning into me the entire time.

Oliver surprisingly didn't try busting out of my grasp. After my demand, he didn't need another; he merely smiled and walked with me out into the hallway without any kind of rebuttal. Almost like this was a normal thing—us holding hands or whatever.

"What was that?" he asked when we were far enough away from the classroom for Richie not to hear. I had been worriedly looking behind me the whole time.

"I didn't want him talking to me, doughnut." The nickname brought some sort of sparkle across his eyes.

"And this," he held up our locked hands closer to my face, "prevents that how again…?"

"He'll realize I'm taken," I replied, sticking my nose to the air.

"By…me," he said with a slow blink.

Oh, shit.

"Er—didn't think that through," I said, now embarrassed at what I had just presented to Richie. Of all people to pretend date in front of him, I had to pick Oliver?

He looked to laugh when his eyes were grabbed by something out in front of us. Whatever it was caused his hand to leave mine in an instant.

And through a sea of people, I saw it, too—Andrea eyeing us suspiciously.

"Oliver," she said sternly, really only looking at me, though she was clearly talking to the person next to me instead.

"Yeah, I'll walk you to class," Oliver seemed to answer a question plainly unasked and left my side at once.

"Er, bye?" I said as they abruptly turned their backs. Andrea gave me a curious raised eyebrow before continuing to walk down the hall, but Oliver didn't glance back once. His expression looked pained and troubled.

I watched them in interest until they disappeared. Then I placed my hands on my hips before realizing that my next class would be starting in about four minutes, and it was on the opposite side of the building.

Brilliant.

Back at the dorm room after all of my classes were finally over, I discovered Lilly absorbed in the television as usual. But her eyes were dreamier than usual, and it took me a second to see why—Jayy TV was the show she was watching.

"Hey Miley," she greeted dryly, obviously not really on planet earth.

"Hey, how was class today?" I asked her as I set my stuff down onto my bed.

"Good. No homework tonight."

"Lucky. I got like ten Chemistry questions, a test to study for on Wednesday, and two pages of freaking Math."

She nodded in reply, and I realized this was probably the only conversation I'd be getting out of her while the show was on, so with a sigh, I fished my Chemistry textbook out of my backpack.

Question One…

Later that evening as I was falling asleep on page forty-three of my Math textbook, Lilly surprised me with this unnerving query:

"Hey, Miley, do you like Andrea?"

I lifted my head, trying to keep any answer hidden from my expression. "Wha—yeah." Lie.

"She doesn't think you do." She quickly flipped open her cell phone. "She said, 'What's Miley's problem with me'?"

"What?" I said, now feeling pretty angry. "Problem with her? She's the one with the problem with me." Thinking the conversation might be over, I returned to my homework.

But Lilly continued. "I don't know. She seems pretty upset that you don't like her."

"Well, maybe it's cause she steals Oliver away all the time," I answered automatically before freezing. Oh, beautiful—I had been cleverly avoiding any more Lilly suspicion, but that probably sounded like she was right all along.

"…they are kinda dating," Lilly muttered, avoiding my eyes completely.

I narrowed my eyes. "But Oliver just told me today that they aren't."

"I think they are now. Officially."

For some reason, I felt like crying about this. Why hadn't Oliver told me yet?

"Oliver didn't tell me."

"I don't know… Maybe Claudia heard wrong… Miley, are—are you sure you don't have any feeli—"

"NO!" I yelled, already knowing the turn the conversation was taking. "I'm just sad that he didn't tell me, and that—that—they're not right for each other!"

"How are they not right?" Lilly's tone seemed to be venturing on angry, which was almost stunning since this was an emotion I had yet to see from her.

"They just—she makes him follow her around everywhere, and to walk her to class, and like, she doesn't like me! How can Oliver date someone who doesn't even like me? I'm his best friend!"

"Andrea likes you, Miley," Lilly argued. "And of course he'll do stuff like that for her because he likes her, not you anymore!"

"What are—" I took a giant breath to try and calm myself, "you talking about?"

"Are you kidding me?" I could only stare at her, so she went on briskly, "The boy was in love with you, Miley, I swear to God—and I don't swear too much to Him or else my parents would cut my ears off." She seemed to be stammering at this point. "He did everything for you, everything, but he probably got tired of waiting and went for someone who actually gave him the time of day!"

I wanted to cry really, really badly now. This didn't even make sense, but I still felt like crying. In fact, I think I could feel water forming in my eyes. Was this what happens when you're angry and confused at the same time?

"He was never in love with me, Lilly, we're just best friends, I'm telling you!"

"Do you know why I was pestering you the other day about you guys? Because I knew it'd be your last chance if you did love him back! I was trying to do you a nice thing so this wouldn't happen. You're just angry now 'cause you lost that chance, and the two are perfectly happy together. Without you. Get over it, Miley."

And with that she got herself into her bed, and threw the covers over her. I held in a sniffle and turned away. I hadn't thought Lilly could ever be so mean.

And nothing she said was logical anyways… Oliver doesn't love me. I don't love him. We're best friends… God, why was this so difficult for people to understand?!

Turning to my cell phone sitting there on the desk, I immediately sent Oliver a new text message.

"R u and andrea really dating now?"

There was about a minute before it beeped that I had a reply.

"No, 4 the 100000th time."

Something like relief washed over me at once. But it wasn't fully gone. Not yet.

"Lilly said u guys are tho."

"idk y she told u that cuz we aren't. id have told the world already if we were."

Well, that's great to know. He really does like this girl… too bad I hate her.

"so u really aren't?"

"no, miles, we really aren't. & get some sleep. its like 2 in the morning."

"sry 4 bothering u..."

"no its fine. Love u."

Despite the horrible crappy feeling inside me, the words on the screen left me smiling.

"love u 2 doughnut."

":)"

When I awoke the next morning, Lilly was already out of the room, probably off to class early… but really probably avoiding confrontation with me. I can't say it wasn't a little relieving to see her bed unoccupied.

After getting ready for the day, I set off to my first class I have on Tuesdays at 10:00—my Chemistry lab. Unlike with class, however, Oliver was put into a different lab, which made this period a lot harder to motivate myself to go to.

However, when I got to the door, there was a white piece of paper declaring that the lab was rescheduled for tomorrow evening at 6:00, or to make it up at another lab if you can't make that time. I grimaced—I could make it, but I was not looking forward to spend more time on Chemistry twice in one day… especially not at night, where I should be free of schoolwork.

I got out my cell phone and decided to text the boyfriend. As much as I felt like I needed Oliver more (a strange emotion really), I figured maybe I just needed some time with Jake. I texted him brightly, "Mornin sleepyhead. wanna catch breakfast? My lab got cancelled :)"

An immediate response as always: "Sure. Meet u in the café in 15?"

I smiled and texted back my agreement before heading to the nearest elevator. Breakfast with the boyfriend. Not a totally bad start to a day I was kinda dreading…

This is going to sound odd, and maybe I'm being too judgmental, but I think I was happier to see Jake than he was to see me.

I didn't really think this until about the middle of breakfast when I was digging into my cereal like a starved animal. At first he looked a little amused until I began talking as I chewed. He kinda frowned, but I was too hungry to give a hoot.

"…so yeah, now Lilly is pissed at me. I should be the one pissed at her. She's the one making up crap about how Oliver used to be in love with me or whatever, when he never ever was or I think I would have noticed. He is my best friend and all! I know everything about the kid!"

Jake shrugged as he bit a piece of bacon.

"And like, accusing me of not liking Andrea? What is that? She's the one who despises my existence. God. She is such a…a… well, you know! I really don't know what Oliver even sees in her. Looks are not everything."

He kind of nodded with a wince, staring at my mouth as I talked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I talking with my mouth full again?"

He nodded again, and I giggled, wiping my lips with my napkin. "Sorry, I'm just used to Oliver not caring. He thinks it's funny. Didn't mean to gross you out."

"Eh, it's okay."

It was then I took in the slight disgruntled expression on his face. I looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"No… there's something." I squinted. "Actually you've barely spoken to me all through breakfast. I've been the one babbling like an idiot."

"It's nothing. But listen, I gotta get to class. I'll see ya later?"

I nodded with a sad smile, unhappy that he was leaving so soon. "Yeah, sure thing." I leaned across the table to try to kiss him, but he had already stood up. Puzzled, I watched him plainly wave to me and walk the other direction.

What the heck was that?

I frowned and stared down at my soggy cereal. Had I done something wrong?

I had nothing planned for the rest of the day, so that unfortunately allowed me to spend hours obsessing over Jake's odd behavior. He wasn't going to break up with me right? After only a month and a half? Was I that bad of a girlfriend? I mean, I know we haven't had sex yet… wait, was that what he wanted? Was that why he was upset?

I had to talk to someone—someone who understands men and their crazy emotionless actions.

So I immediately dialed Oliver's number; for once calling instead of texting.

It took four rings for him to answer, and wherever he was at was very loud. I could barely hear his "Hello?" over the noise.

"Hey Oliver, can you come over for a little bit?"

"Miley?"

I blinked. "Um… yeees…"

"Sorry, I can just barely hear. What'd you say?"

"Can you come over for a little bit—where are you?"

"Bowling alley."

I glanced at the clock. "It's like… noon."

Now that I knew where he was, I could recognize the rattling of pins and bowling balls being dropped down lanes. "I have my Physical Education class this time on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"You get to bowl?"

"Yep. And what time do you want me to come over?"

"Whenever you can. It's important."

"Mmkay. I'll bring my Chemistry book and maybe we can study for that test tomorrow, too?"

I felt a sudden jolt go through me. "Oh, CRAP! I forgot about that! Good idea."

"As they always are."

"Shut up," I chuckled.

"Well, it's about my turn so I'll see ya in about… two hours?"

Yes! I thought smugly. He has no stupid Andrea plans today.

"Sounds good!" I piped.

"Bye dollface."

I smiled brightly at this new name for me. It was almost… cute. For Oliver anyways.

But like I could be that nice.

"Bye loser."

And I hung up before he could say anything else.

It was 2:30 p.m., and Oliver had yet to arrive at the door. So, he was only thirty minutes late, no big… I still felt a little discomforted, though. Lilly was also not here, either, but I suspected she was with Andrea, complaining about me maybe or something.

More time passed, and I continued my million glances at the clock. 4:30 p.m. And Oliver still wasn't here? Okay, maybe he forgot he had to do something else first…

But wouldn't he have called or texted or, or something?

I opened my cell phone, but I had no missed calls or new text messages.

Biting my lip, I told myself not to worry, and that he would be over soon.

Around eight-thirty, a.k.a. six hours later, I was still without any company in my dormroom. I had tried calling Oliver a total of twelve times, and probably sent at least twenty texts, but he didn't pick up or reply at all. I was beginning to think he got in some sort of car accident… but the bowling alley was here on campus, I had thought, so how was that even possible?

I had been also trying to talk to Jake to calm me down, but he was being weird by giving me all these one-word text messages. Usually that means a person is mad about something, or annoyed, but I was pretty sure that I hadn't done anything wrong. Was my eating-with-my-mouth-full really that big of a turn off? I could change…

…though Oliver wouldn't want me to.

Oliver.

I felt really strange when I thought his name for some reason. My heart felt like it tore—not just in half, but in every direction, probably in twelfths I felt like crying really badly for being ditched by him. Oliver never ditches me. Like, it only happened a few times back in high school when he was going through that baseball thing, but he would at least call and apologize… and had a reasonable excuse every time… and now, I'm stuck on waiting for one that doesn't seem to be coming.

I glared at my Chemistry book, not wanting to begin studying, but I didn't have a choice. I probably already had a D in the class I sucked so much at it.

With one more look at my un-opening door, I sighed, and turned to page fifty-one.

It was going to be a very long night indeed.

Oliver never did come by that night. Neither did Lilly, though her company was way less anticipated.

I dreamed that night that Oliver was running towards a cliff, and I tried to stop him. He insisted that Andrea was waiting for him at the bottom. I screamed and screamed for him to stop and to be careful, but he didn't listen—he leapt from the edge, leaving me there to watch him fade to the bottom, where nobody was there to catch him—not even Andrea.

When I awoke that next morning, disgustingly drooling on my Chem book, I immediately checked my phone.

One New Text Message.
Fr: Oliver
"hey sry bout last night. will explain l8r. hope u studied well. c ya 10!"

I felt like throwing the damn phone across the room. He didn't even sound sorry! I was so angry that I really didn't even wanna go to my classes today, but I knew that I had to or else that D would plummet to a big fat F.

So after falling asleep in Math, and typing a really crappy rough draft of an essay in English, I grumbled my way into the Chemistry room.

I was surprised to see Richie already in there, and he gave me a bright smile.

I half-blushed and kept my eyes to the back of the room. Even though I was pissed off at Oliver, I wanted him to appear already so Richie would quit looking at me.

I got my wish as Oliver Oken came skipping through the room, looking happy as a lark. I could barely believe the giant smile on his face.

"Miley!" he shouted, and I slammed my head down into my textbook.

I heard him situating himself down in his usual seat next to me. "Sorry about last night, I—"

"Don't talk to me," I growled.

"Miley, just listen—"

"No, you listen," I barked. "Yesterday was one of the worst feeling days of my life. I don't want to talk to you. And I don't really want to see you either. I'm pissed enough already, and I have a test to concentrate on today."

I didn't bother looking at him long enough to see his expression, but whatever I said must've been enough to cause him to go into a stunned silence. And to not even attempt talking to me again.

The test was surprisingly easier than I had imagined. This, of course, frightened me because usually when I think a test is easy, I completely bomb it. But I didn't even care today. I finished before Oliver, and when I handed my test to Mrs. Plym, I strode out of the room as quickly as possible. I wanted to go back to my dorm, collapse on my bed, and cry.

Unfortunately, I still had Sociology.

Screw my life.

That afternoon after my classes were done for the day, I decided I really needed to get my emotions out since I couldn't talk to Oliver, or Lilly (she was still M.I.A.). I even resorted to the option of trying to get ahold of my dad, but I only got the answering machine. Even my dad has a life.

I left my dorm with a notebook and my guitar. It was time to write it out.

I didn't know where I was going until I caught glimpse of the park from a window. It looked strangely inviting. I felt like I could maybe get good inspiration at the bench sitting in front of it, so shrugging and not knowing where else I'd do this anyways, I walked to it, took a breath, and began my emotional release.

I found myself still sitting at that bench even two and a half hours later, tapping my pen to the paper occasionally, biting my lip, staring out at nothing as a thousand people walked by. My notebook was covered in black scribbles and smudges and even a few tears here and there. In short, I was sucking a lot today. The only lyric I had managed to even like so far was, "They say that good things take time, but really great things happen in a blink of an eye". It was really the only thing I had written that was nice sounding. Everything else was like, "Why are you such a bad friend, I hate you, she's a whore, just walk out the door," and lots of other really stupid things that didn't sound like songs at all.

Picking up my guitar, I strummed it once, then twice, and set it back down. God. Why does everything I write sound so angry today? I should write about happy things… though, I'm not sure what… Maybe I should be writing about Jake and how happy he makes me. But no, he's barely talking to me right now for some reason. And besides, I just wanna bitch about Oliver ignoring me for Andrea. God, they aren't even dating! Why they aren't, I don't understand, they're attached at the hip and all…

I was suddenly startled by a hand clamping onto my shoulder. I flew upwards until the unmistakable chuckle of the devil himself filled my ears.

"Scare ya, did I?"

"Fuck off, Oliver," I told him angrily, turning away from him. I could barely believe I had even used the F bomb on him; I hadn't realized I was that upset… but c'mon, the previous night gave me permission. But what was more shocking than my language was that Andrea wasn't standing right there next to him, hovering like a… hovering… person…thing.

Without my consent, Oliver ambled his way onto the park bench beside me, smiling at me of all things, completely ignoring my bad tongue and irritable attitude. "So whatcha writing?" he asked casually and reached for my notebook, but I pulled it away triumphantly.

"None of your business. Go away."

He looked at me. "Stop being so stubborn. You know you forgive me."

"How can I forgive an asshole who doesn't care enough to apologize?"

"Hey, hey now," he said loudly, and I eyed him with a sharp glare. "I tried. You wouldn't listen, so I do care. I'm an asshole who gives a shit, like most assholes are designed to do on a human body."

I bit my tongue to keep myself from laughing. The last I wanted to do was show any kind of positive emotion towards him. I knew three words that would suffice: "I hate you."

He put out his own three words: "You love me," and began reaching forward to tilt my chin upwards with his finger. I shook it away from him angrily. "Oh, Miles."

"'Oh, Miles' what?"

"I don't know. How's Jakey?"

I would've told you last night had you showed up, you dickhead.

"Go ask him, he's your roommate, you know."

"Wow, you're actually mad at me, aren't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Figure that one all out on your own?"

He shifted himself into an Indian-style position on the bench. "Listen, Miles, I really am sorry. It's just, listen, I was… I was with Andrea."

I stared at him in disbelief. THAT WAS HIS BRILLIANT FUCKING EXCUSE?!

"Really, Oliver?! That's why you ditched me? And you didn't even call or answer my texts or anything?!"

"Give me a chance to explain, okay?!" he yelled pathetically. "I'm really trying to impress this girl. She likes me. A lot."

Yeah, for some dumb fucking reason I can't figure out at the moment.

"Sooo, by ditching me and leaving me to study for our test all by myself and not even telling me you wouldn't show up, you impress her? Somehow, Oliver, that doesn't exactly make sense."

"No, no. I had to ditch you because she thinks I love you, not her."

I shot my head up at this. "Huh?"

He sighed like he was irritated. "Andrea thinks I'm in love with you or something, so I gotta prove to her that I'm not. She won't date me unless she knows it for a fact. And she always says I'm communicating with you too much on my phone, so I couldn't call you or anyth—"

"You're not in love with me," I interrupted bluntly.

He smirked. Oh, here we go.

"But you're in love with me."

I went cross-eyed. "Uh, no, what are you talking about?"

"Lilly told me that last night you were moooaning my name in your sleep. Steamy dreamies there, Mile?"

I was so horrified at this that it didn't even register that Lilly must've been in the dorm last night after all. I blushed and hit him over the head with my notebook. "No! I had a dream you were going to jump off a cliff! And I was telling you to stop."

"Lilly said it sounded like, 'OOOLLIVVERR!! OOOHH, OLIVERRR, YOU MAKE IT FEEEL SOOO GOOOOOODDD!'"

He was so loud that people were beginning to stare, and I lunged forward and brought my hands over his mouth. I was disgusted to have him lick me.

"She did NOT tell you that," I hissed, wiping my hand on my jeans.

"So it is true?"

"No! I mean, I was probably shouting your name, but that was it!"

"Right." he stared at me for a long, piercing moment. "So do you forgive me? And please say yes, cause I gotta ask ya about something."

"Yeah, yeah, fine, whatever—what do you want?"

"Besides you?" he asked, and it almost sounded like he wasn't joking until he laughed it off.

"And you wonder why she thinks you're in love with me," I muttered.

"You are so feisty today," Oliver commented in amazement. "I love it."

"I am not feisty!" I shouted angrily before calming down an instant later. "Well, maybe. But what the hell do you want? I'm busy here, ya know."

He rolled his eyes before replying, "It's about Andrea."

"Okay, seriously, I'm leaving." I stood up, slinging my guitar back over my shoulder and grabbing my notebook before Oliver had a hand clamped to my wrist. I narrowed my eyes at it.

"Just listen, please?"

I grumbled and sat myself down, folding my arms.

"Thank-you," he said brightly. "I was wondering… how do you ask someone to be your girlfriend exactly?"

I could barely believe the childish question was even being posed.

"Yeah, Oliver, because I have so much experience with asking someone to be my girlfriend."

"I thought you were done being bitter."

"No."

"Well, stop, this is serious!" he said with a glare. "I wanna ask Andrea to officially start dating, but in a really romantic way. She's a sucker for those kinds of things. And I'm scared if I don't do it right, she'll just… dump me."

"How can she dump you when you're not even dating!" I yelled at him, and he grinned guiltily.

"You know what I mean, Miles. Just… I wanna do it right. I figured you would know."

I grumbled to myself before setting my notebook completely down with a long, unhappy sigh. "Alright… I don't know why you're making this so complicated. Just ask her. Be like, 'Hey, wanna be my girlfriend? For real?'"

"No I can't do that!" he said dramatically, waving his hands. "I can't just be casual about things. She's Andrea. Not you."

This comment was something else.

It almost felt like, like a stab in my heart. As if I was being dumped. The way he had said it sounded like I was nothing compared to the girl. As if… she was more… important. And for as long as I could remember, I was always more important. Even with his past girlfriends, he still very obviously had me as his number one in his life. I'd never heard him so… infatuated with someone else before.

Oliver must have saw my aghast expression and was like, "No offense, Miles. I love you, but…" he seemed to look awkward at the words. "Never mind. I'm a dick."

"No, it's okay," I choked out, still feeling like a huge part of me was being ripped apart. He had ditched me for Andrea, and now it felt like he was replacing me with her in his head all together… and she was so horrible… I didn't understand this.

"Whoa, are you okay?" I felt Oliver shift closer to me and put an arm around my neck.

Why the heck was I starting to cry anyways?

"Y-yeah," I stuttered out, staring at my legs because I didn't want him to see my face because I was most definitely not okay. "Just… PMSing."

A total lie, but guys will always leave you alone if you bring up a subject as uncomfortable as that.

Oh, but wait, Oliver is not a guy apparently because he was like, "Oh, do you need anything? Midol?"

Like, what the hell?! He's supposed to just get all grossed out and walk away!

I shook my head in disbelief since my tears had now run dry. "No, I'm fine, Oliver, thanks. Just… are you sure Andrea is right for you?"

There was silence, and I finally dared to look at him, and his lips were in a very tight line. He looked focused—too concentrated for someone like Oliver.

"I don't know," he answered after some time of staring at me. "I just know that I have to give it a shot."

"How do you know this? What if, what if she's terrible to you—"

"You're taking the same risk with Jake, you know," he said, not without bitterness.

"Yeah, but… Oliver, she—I don't think she likes me."

"Are you crazy?" he looked astonished. "Of course she does."

"No. She won't let me spend—never mind."

More silence progressed until Oliver's head lifted slightly, maybe in enlightenment? "Ooooh, wait a minute. You're just afraid I won't spend any more time with you once I'm officially with her."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just looked the other direction.

"Miley, I'll always have time for you, okay?" one of his hands tugged at my chin to bring me closer to his face. A little too close because my heart did this weird jump thing like he had startled me or something. "You're my best friend. I wouldn't date someone who wouldn't let me see you."

"But she gets jealous," I muttered, staring at his cheeks rather than his eyes. "She'll make you choose one of us eventually… I know it."

"Then I'll choose you, okay?"

I blinked at the delivery of his statement—it was bold and confident, like he was so sure of himself he'd risk his life on it or something.

I found myself smiling at him and leaning my head into the crook of his neck. "Really?"

"Really, Mile."

The comfort of his words somehow set my heart on fire, nothing he'd ever been able to do before, so I knew I had to believe him. I had to trust him because nothing else was telling me not to.

His other arm reached across to my other shoulder so he could give me a real hug. I was somehow more disappointed than usual when he pulled away after a quick two seconds.

"So, you gonna be okay?" he asked me with a genuine smile.

"Yeah," I murmured. "Sorry for freaking out."

"Nah, it's 'ight. Want me to walk you to your dorm? I think I'll just think of something for Andrea myself… don't think it's right for me to put you in that position."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'd feel more porud of myself that way at least. So, c'mon, grab LuLu and we'll get out of here."

And as I did, he swung another arm over my shoulders so I could lean more against him for support. He clutched my arm behind my back softly.

I love Oliver Oken. Even when he's being an asshole, he still always knows the perfect thing to say.

As you can tell, Miley is finalllllly starting to give in to some feelings... :) tee-hee. next chapter is a cute one. I'm sure you can't wait until I update then, right?.... right?