'Cause he's the reason for the teardrops on my guitar

The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart

Miley

"Lilly, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," I soothe gently. Lilly and I sit in the middle of her bedroom floor, surrounded by a large array of make-up, hair products, and junk food. I pick up a stick of eyeliner and cross my legs beneath me. "Close," I say and her eyes snap shut.

"Then why did he say it?" she says tiredly as I draw a thin line on her eyelid.

"Maybe," I say, moving the pencil from her left eye to her right, "He's jealous. He likes you, so he feels the need to degrade your boyfriend."

She sighs and opens her eyes. "No offense, Miles," she says, "But you were kind of wrong the last time you thought he liked me."

I shrug. "Look at the ceiling," I say and she obeys. I draw two skinny lines below each eye, racking my brain for a way to tell Lilly what I want to tell her. "Maybe," I say quietly, placing the eyeliner back on the ground. "Maybe he's right."

Her newly lined eyes go wide. "Miley!" she squeals. "You can't be serious!"

I throw my hands into the air. "I'm not saying he is right, I'm just saying what if…"

She shakes her head furiously. "He's never acted anything but nice to me," Lilly says, heat rushing to her cheeks. "There was one time he was drunk and he was kind of gross, but not anything awful. I would definitely not categorize him as a jerk."

"Alright, alright," I say, not wanting to upset her the same way Oliver had, "I believe you, trust me. I'm just trying to figure out a plausible reason that Oliver said what he said." I pick up a case of eyeshadow. "Close again," I say and she obeys.

She sighs deeply. "That's what made me so upset," she says softly as I lightly dust smoky shadow onto her eyelids. "I don't know that he had a reason to say it. It just doesn't make any sense. It's like he doesn't want me to be happy!"

I snap the container shut and sigh, placing my hands on my friend's shoulders. "Lilly, look at me," I say. Reluctantly, her eyes open and meet mine. "I don't know why Oliver said those things to you. I really don't. But I do know one thing. Oliver cares about you more than he cares about anyone else in this world. He would never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

She looks away, blinking back tears. "I don't know, Miley, I-"

I cross my arms across my chest. "Nope, that's all I have to say on this matter. I know that it's true." She rolls her eyes at me and hastily wipes her cheeks, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Now, if you would kindly stop blubbering, I'd prefer it if your make-up stayed where I meant for it to go."

She laughs and I pull a Kleenex from the box next to me, handing it to her. As she wipes her tearstained cheeks, I hear her mutter, "At least I have one good friend."

"Lillian," I say, grabbing her dress from it's resting spot on the bed, "I refuse to talk about this anymore. Now, take this-" I shove the dress into her hands and shove her toward the bathroom, "And do not come out until you have that gorgeous dress on and are not thinking about Oliver."

I roll my eyes as the door clicks shut quietly and look around the disaster area of a room. Sighing, I sit down, tucking my legs underneath me and begin to put the make-up back into its case. I look up when the door to the hallway creaks open, "Hey, Lilly, I just wanted to let you know that I'm back from the store, I-"

My eyes grow wide as they meet Brody's.

"Miley," he says quietly. "I… you… hi."

I'm suddenly feeling very self-conscious about my appearance. When I put my hair in a messy braid, wore my glasses, and put on Jackson's sweatpants and a Seaview Middle School t-shirt, I definitely was not expecting to come face to face with the boy I've been crushing on ever since we moved to Malibu. (This crush has definitely been developing recently due to our almost daily phone calls for two months.)

"You didn't tell me you were coming home this weekend," I say, my eyes still so wide that I probably look like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Yeah," he says, stepping fully into the room. (God, he's gorgeous.) "It was sort of a last minute thing, so-"

I cross my arms across my chest and move so that I am sitting Indian style. "I just sort of assumed that you were going to tell me the next time you came into town," I try to shrug nonchalantly, though my heart is beating about a bajillion times a minute. "I thought we might… get together or something… hang out."

He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "Miley, I really, really like you," he says.

I can tell he wants to add a 'but' so I quickly jump in. "That's good," I say, "Because I like you, too." I stand up and take a few steps toward him.

He steps backward. "It can't work," he says.

"What?"

"You know me! I'm a complete and total asshole! I do a ton of really awful things that I know I shouldn't do and I do them anyway!"

"You said you weren't doing drugs anymore," I say, crossing my arms.

"I'm not!" he says hurriedly. "But I do drink and I do smoke." He reaches out and tucks a loose strand of hair behind my ear. "You're so great, Miley. Go and find someone who's good enough for you."

I roll my eyes. "Don't give me that 'you're to good for me' bullshit," I say. "I think you're great for me. I really like you, Brody. I don't care about all of that stuff."

He smiles sadly. "What if I do something stupid and mess everything up?" he asks quietly.

I shrug. "What if I do something stupid and mess everything up?" I sigh. "If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. At least we know that we've tried."

He shoves me lightly. "And she's smart, too," he jokes.

"I do what I can," I shrug.

A smile creeps across my face as he places his hands on my cheeks. Our lips have just barely touched when, "Hey, can you help me zip OH MY GOD!"

I jump away from Brody and turn to Lilly sheepishly. "Yes, I can!" I say, a little too enthusiastically. I know that my face is the same shade of red as her dress.

"You… he... lips… what?" Lilly stammers, looking back and forth between Brody and I. I quickly zip up her dress.

"I'm, um, going to go downstairs," Brody says nervously. "Nice to see you, Miley. You look pretty, Lil."

He steps out of the room and shuts the door and Lilly immediately turns to me. "What the heck was that, ya crazy?"

"Lilly, wasn't it kind of obvious what it was?" I ask, busying myself with cleaning up the rest of the make-up.

"It was very obvious what it was, I just didn't know that what it was happened between you and my brother," she says, her hands gesturing wildly.

"It's not like it happens all the time. That was the first," I say quietly, still refusing to make eye contact with her. "If it's not okay, I can-"

"Of course it's okay!" she yells. "I've always waited for my brother to bring home a Playboy Playmate, I'm definitely going to approve if its you he's bringing home instead!"

I laugh as she throws her arms around my neck. "If I'm not mistaken," I say, patting her back, "You're Prince Charming will be picking you up in twenty minutes and I still have to fix your hair."

Lilly

"Lilly!" Brody yells up the stairs. "Lil-ly!"

"What?" I snap as Miley slides the curling iron out of my hair.

"Finished," she says proudly, yanking the cord out of the wall.

"What's his name is here!" Brody calls.

I feel my stomach tighten as I slide my feet into my shoes. "I'm coming!" I yell back. "I think I'm gonna puke," I say, turning back to Miley.

She places her hands on my shoulders. "Lilly," she says, "Everything's going to be great. You're going to have an awesome night, okay?"

I nod. "Okay," I say. "Okay."

With only a small bit of help from Miley, I make it to the bottom of the stairs where Quinn and Brody are waiting.

Quinn's face breaks out into a huge grin when he sees me, which I'm choosing to take as a good sign. "Hi," he breathes.

"Hello," I say quietly as he leans down and pecks me on the cheek.

"We're going to go to the basement," Brody says, grabbing Miley's hand. "You two kids have fun now."

Quinn grins as he slings an arm lazily around my shoulder. "Dude, we are going to have the best time ever," he says, leading me toward the door.

"Quinn," I ask, taking a deep breath, sniffing the air around me, "Have you been drinking?"

He shrugs, that goofy grin still plastered onto his face. "I dunno," he hiccups. "Just a little, maybe. Dude, there's free alcohol in the limo. It's awesome."

I sigh. This could potentially be a long… and gross night. "Awesome, dude," I say flatly as he pulls me toward the limo. "Awesome."

Quinn opens the door of the limo and practically falls inside. As I begin to step inside, I briefly glance across the street, where my eyes meet Oliver's. He stands in his driveway, his hand on the door of his car. He smiles when he sees that I've seen him, raising his hand in a sort of wave. I feel like I could cry.

"Lil-lay!" someone yells from below me. "Get in or get left!"

I stare at Oliver. He mouths 'you look beautiful' and smiles again.

I want to smile back, to run to him, to hug him, to kiss him, at least to wave, but I don't. Instead, I step into the limo and watch him stand alone in his driveway as we drive away.

Emerson

"What's wrong?" I ask Oliver for probably the four hundredth time since he picked me up.

He lets out a strained laugh. "Nothing, Em," he says. This is also the four hundredth time that he has given me this response. He looks at me and I raise an eyebrow. He squeezes my hand and laughs again. "Seriously, nothing," he says.

I shake my head as we stop walking, letting go of his hand. "You've been weird all night," I say. "It's been, like," I glance at my watch, which says it's eleven o'clock, "Four hours since you picked me up and I think you've probably spoken a total of one hundred words to me. You're all… distant."

He sinks into the sand, sifting it through his toes absentmindedly. "Lilly and I had a fight," he says quietly, his brown eyes focused intently on the ocean.

I drop down next to him and link my arm through his. "Oliver, I'm sorry," I say. I try to read his face for any trace of what happened, how bad it was, or for anything, but all I see is a blank stare. "Was it bad?" I ask softly, my thumb tracing an absentminded pattern on his arm.

He sighs, running a hand through his disheveled hair. "Pretty bad," he confesses, his eyes never leaving the ocean. "She told me she hated me."

Again, I try to read his expression for what this meant, how serious this was. I mean, Lilly could tell Oliver she hated him every single day for all I knew; I barely knew the girl! Again, I get nothing, so I ask another question. "What happened?"

"I tried to tell her not to go to prom with Quinn," he sighs. "He's such a jerk, Emerson, you don't understand!" He looks at me for the first time, pleading for me to believe him. "If you could here the way he talks in the locker room, all the disgusting things he says…"

He trails off and for the first time I am able to read the emotion on his face, I'm able to tell what he's feeling.

Love.

My breath hitches in my throat as I realize that I can't deny it anymore: my boyfriend is madly in love with another girl, a girl that I know is perfect for him.

I tug my arm out of Oliver's and scoot away slightly, a shocked expression on my face.

"What?" Oliver asks, concern in his voice.

"You love Lilly," I say softly, a tone of comprehension in my voice.

"Well, yeah," Oliver says, scratching his head nervously. "She's my best friend."

"No, Oliver!" I say. "You love her. You're in love with her."

He looks at me in disbelief. "No!" he says quickly. "She's my friend, my sister. I couldn't-"

I shake my head, fighting back tears. "But you could and you do!"

"Emerson," he says, placing his hand on my shoulder, "You're my girlfriend. You're the one I-" He's cut off when his phone starts vibrating. "Dammit," he mutters, pulling it out of his pocket and glancing at the flashing screen.

"Who is it?" I ask, peering at the phone.

Before he can snatch it away, I read the words 'Lilly Lou' on the screen. I roll my eyes. He quickly silences it and puts it in his pocket.

"Look, I ignored her calls!" he says. "If I was so in love with her, would I do that?"

"Oliver, I-" But before I can say anything, his phone starts to vibrate again. I raise my eyebrow as I see 'Lilly Lou' flashing on the screen again.

"I'm sorry," he says, ignoring the call and placing it in his pocket once more. "Emerson, I don't know why you think this, but you're my girlfriend. You're the one I love. Lilly is my best friend, but you're my girlfriend and that's the way it-"

His phone begins to vibrate one more time. He lets out an exasperated groan and flips open the phone. "Lilly! I will talk to you later. Stop bothering me," he says. He shuts the phone and then turns it off, sticking it back in his pocket. He takes my hands in his. "Em, I'm sorry that this happened, but whatever you think about me and Lilly, it's not true, okay?"

I look into up at him, and I know that it is true. Oliver loves Lilly. But when my eyes meet his, when he smiles at me, I choose to believe for just a moment more that maybe I am the one who stole his heart.

A/N: One more chapter (maybe two). I hope you liked this one! A huge thanks to all of my reviewers! Love to all of you!