Chapter 10: Livewire

(That afternoon)

Miley excitedly jumped backstage, a smile shining on her face. The roar of the satisfied crowd still lingered in her ringing ears.

"Hannah Montana does it again!" Robbie Ray said as her joined her backstage. "Honey, you were amazing out there!"

"Thanks, daddy", she said, catching her breath.

"Sure thing, bud. I s'pose you're tired of hearing this, but…"

"You're proud of me. I know", she said.

"Well, yeah", he said, narrowing his eyes. "What are you, some kind of mind reader?"

"I guess you could say that", Miley replied wistfully. She looked down, her expression growing distant. "Daddy, I swear I've done that show before."

"Really? You do perform here a lot." He smiled lightly, almost mockingly. "Sure it ain't just déjà-vu from that?"

She felt mad all the sudden. "No, it's not", she growled, pulling off the microphone hooked to her ear. "Listen, it felt like the same exact show I did last time. Even rehearsal this morning was the same. And last time I checked, I'm not on tour." She shook her head. "Something's just seems… not right."

"Miley, as your manager, I'm sure you haven't done this show before", he said firmly. "Not only that, but this is the first time you've ever done your newer songs for a live audience."

"But dad, I know I've done these songs before", she said, irritated. "And it was right here in LA, too."

"Honey, I really doubt it", he said with absolute certainty. "Unless you performed without me knowing, or if you were dreaming, this is the first time you did this show."

She felt like screaming. I wish I never had that stupid dream, she thought heatedly. Everything's screwed up because of it. It had no doubt complicated things for her. She felt like every other thing she said was a question, a doubt, or a speculation that everyone disregarded and rejected.

"So where's Lola?" Miley/Hannah asked, trying to ignore her seething frustration.

"I just saw her", her dad said. "She caught sight of the food and bolted, but she said she'd be right back."

"If she comes back, tell her I'm in my dressing room", she said, impatiently walking away.

"Will do, bud."

She was about to open to door to her dressing room when a voice from behind her made her stop.

"Hannaaaaaah!"

Miley turned to the sound of the high-pitched, nasally greeting. Traci was running up to her.

Oh, great, she thought, her head pounding all the sudden. Just what I need.

"Muwah! Muwah!" Traci said as she gave both of Miley's cheeks faux kisses. Miley just stood there with just as faux a smile, not caring to return the gesture.

"Great performance!" Traci squeaked. "Loved that big finish." Her voice dropped lower (even then her voice was an octave too high) during the last part, as if she was telling some kind of juicy secret.

Miley felt utterly annoyed. "Thanks." She had to put a lot of effort into keeping her expression borderline friendly.

"Bravo, I must say!" Traci exclaimed, a smile plastered to her face.

"Glad you liked it", Miley said with her hand on the dressing room doorknob. "Listen, Traci, I'm kind of in a hurry. I've got a… thing I have to get to." She felt bad for lying, but right now, she just wasn't in the mood for Traci's antics.

"Oh, that's too bad", Traci said. "Evan and I were wondering if you'd want to check out this awesome new club on Southshore Boulevard. Are you free later tonight?"

"Uh, Traci, I don't know."

"Oh, come on, Hannah! I'm sure everyone will be there. You should have been there last night!"

Yeah, sure, Miley thought with an inaudible sigh.

Traci was blathering on about some party she had went to last night and how they'd hit that new club afterwards. "So, are you in?" she said.

"What time?" Miley asked impatiently.

"Around nine", Traci replied. "We'll be watching for you!" With that, she pranced off.

Miley felt like banging her head against the wall. She had a strange notion that she'd regret that. She walked into her dressing room and slammed the door behind her, praying for no more interruptions. She had just finished changing when someone knocked on the door. She stopped what she was doing and threw her wig back on, just in case.

She opened the door. "What!?" she said, a bit sharper than she'd anticipated.

Lilly jumped a little, her eyes wide, at the tension in Miley's voice.

"Oh. Lilly", Miley said. Her heart seemed to tremble for some reason. "Sorry."

"That's… okay", Lilly said nervously. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, uh, nothing", Miley said quickly. She changed the subject. "Why aren't you in disguise?"

"Oh", Lilly said, twirling her finger through her straight blonde hair. "Pretty much everybody's gone, so I really didn't think I needed the wig."

Miley peeked out the door. "Good", she said, taking hers off. "I've been wearing this thing long enough."

Lilly followed her in. "Man, I love your dressing room!" She spun around with her arms outstretched, collapsing on the dark leather couch. "Great show, as always, Miss Hannah Montana!"

Miley could almost feel the irritation melting out of her. "Thank you, my dear."

Lilly giggled, sprawling herself out across the couch. "Those new songs sounded amazing!"

"Good. I'm glad!"

"So, what's up for the rest of the day?" Lilly asked, looking at her from upside down.

"I… don't know", Miley said, sitting beside her on the long couch. She didn't want to mention the whole club thing going on that night; she didn't know whether she'd blow it off or not. "I think my dad said I have some publicity thing later today, but I have to check."

"Just don't over-work yourself", Lilly said. She laid her head against Miley's leg.

Miley smiled down at her and started playing with her hair. "Sometimes I wish I could just take a few days off being a celebrity."

"Really?" Lilly asked, closing her eyes.

"Yeah. Every so often."

Lilly nestled her head up closer, her eyes still closed.

Miley was staring again. Oh, damn, she thought, as her heart fluttered. What is going on with me? She couldn't look away. Her hands ran through Lilly's hair, almost involuntarily. The silky tresses of Lilly's hair tickled her wrists.

She felt her every nerve ending become a livewire as Lilly gave a small sigh of pleasure.

"That feels so good, Miley", Lilly said. She trembled a little, her smile widening.

This wasn't the first time Miley had done that sort of thing with Lilly. But this time, it was so incredibly different. Her entire body reacted in a totally different way, and when her senses indulged in the experience, she found that she just couldn't stop.

"Mmm…" Lilly sighed quietly.

Miley stroked her hair very slowly this time. She kept going downward, brushing over Lilly's ear and down her bare neck.

Lilly shivered and fell silent as Miley continuously ran her fingers up and down her neck.

Miley swore she was bewitched in those moments. She traced her fingers over Lilly's collar bone, back up her neck and down to the top of her chest. She didn't notice that Lilly was shaking like a leaf.

"M…Miley?" Lilly whispered.

"Yeah?" Miley said absently, returning her quivering fingers to Lilly's hair.

Lilly didn't answer. Instead, she raised her head and sat up halfway. Her face was inches from Miley's.

Miley was transfixed, lost in Lilly's gaze. They were so close Miley could see the tiny dark speckles in Lilly's clear blue eyes. She put her hand on the base of Lilly's neck.

Lilly was frozen in place. Miley couldn't tell if she was mesmerized, confused, or freaked out. The thought just made her heart flutter even more. Miley hungered to pull her closer.

The door flew open. "Hey, Miles", Robbie Ray said. "You ready to…" He stopped short when he saw them.

They stared toward him, snapping out of their trances. They jumped away from each other as fast as they could.

Robbie Ray looked perplexed. "Um… you girls ready to head out?"

Miley shot up. "Yeah." Her voice was shaking all over the place. "Let's get going." She grabbed her purse and ran out. Lilly stumbled out behind her.